For the first time, the Court - which settles legal disputes between Member States of the United Nations - has two women: Xue Hanqin, former ambassador to Holland, and American Joan Donoghue.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The International Court in the Hague, which adjudicates legal matters between the Member States of the United Nations has appointed a Chinese woman and an American woman as new judges. It is the first time that there are two women in the Council, composed of 15 members.

Xue Hanqin, from Shanghai, was ambassador to ASEAN and China even before becoming the diplomatic representative in Holland. Joan Donoghue, from the U.S., however, was an adviser to President Obama on matters of international law.

Xue was appointed June 29 to take the place of Shi Jiuyong, who had resigned the month before. She is the fifth Chinese judge to serve in The Hague, but only the third to represent the PRC. Before her, judges were drawn from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In 1982 she graduated in International Law from Beijing University, and the year after obtained a Masters in Law at Columbia University. From 1980 to 2003 she worked at the Legal Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she reached the rank of director general.

During this time she returned to Columbia, where she obtained a PhD in Legal Sciences. From 2003 to 2008 she was ambassador to Holland, in December of that year she was appointed the first Chinese representative at the Association of South-East Asia Nations.

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