| UN Official
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(CNSPHOTO) |
Xue Hanqin, a senior Chinese diplomat specializing in international law, has been elected the first chairwoman of the International Law Commission at the UN body's 62nd annual session.
Xue, 55, was director general of the Law and Treaty Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999-2003. She was first elected to the International Law Commission in 2001 and reelected in 2006.
Now Chinese Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Xue had also served as ambassador to the Kingdom of Netherlands and representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The International Law Commission was established by the UN General Assembly in 1948 for the "promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification." Its members are persons who possess recognized competence and qualifications in both doctrinal and practical aspects of international law.
Secrets Watchdog
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(CNSPHOTO) |
Xia Yong has been appointed as director of the upgraded National Administration for the Protection of State Secrets (NAPSS). The State Council announced the appointment on May 14.
The NAPSS was recently upgraded to a vice-ministerial agency of the State Council after China's top legislature amended the Law on Guarding State Secrets, in order to increase its authority to coordinate interdepartmental work in related fields.
Xia, 49, had served as chief of the former NPASS since 2005. A jurisconsult-turned-official, his efforts to promote the reduction of the number of state secrets and boost government transparency have won widespread praise.
Xia was deputy director of the Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China before he moved to the NPASS. Before that, he taught for 12 years at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law between 1986 and 1998 and then worked at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as its deputy director and director until 2004, mainly studying human rights and the rule of law.
Badminton Star
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(ZHANG CHEN) |
Lin Dan, who has helped China win its fourth consecutive Thomas Cup (Men's Team World Badminton Championships), has become the world's most dominant player, said one of his longtime rivals.
"It is indeed Lin's era now," said Indonesia's former Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat, who was crushed by Lin in less than an hour in the final of the biennial tournament on May 16.
Lin, 26, nicknamed "Super Dan" by his fans, is the most prolific winner of men's world titles of all time in China, having captured 13 crowns. He is the only male player in badminton history to have won three consecutive titles at the World Championships in 2006, 2007 and 2009. He clinched the men's singles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Lin has often topped the world-rankings list since 2002, although Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei overtook him in 2006 and 2009.
Lin's next major goal is to win the men's singles title at the Asian Games, one of the few big ones still missing from his collection, in south China's Guangzhou in November. | 
