A view of the Court Room of the International Court of Justice on March 16, 2022
China on Thursday defended its judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, who disagreed with a majority order asking Russia to immediately suspend its military operations in Ukraine, saying that four other judges also had “different opinions”. expressed.
The ICJ ruled on Wednesday that Russia would “immediately suspend military operations that began on February 24”.
The order was passed by a vote of 13:2, with Russian Vice President Kirill Gevorgian and China’s Judge Xu Hanqin disagreeing.
This decision is the first such ruling by the World Court since Russia’s military action in Ukraine; UN News said this was in response to a lawsuit filed by Ukraine on February 27, accusing Russia of “manipulating the concept of genocide to justify its military aggression”.
In a tweet shortly after the decision, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the majority decision “fully reaffirms my repeated appeals for peace.”
Asked for his reaction to the verdict, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told a media briefing on Thursday that “the court judges performed the duty independently. I will not comment on that”.
“In fact, in addition to the judges from Russia and China, four other judges also gave statements or differing opinions on the decision”, he said.
“Some of them explicitly stated that they support provisional measures based on the current situation and the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but they do not agree with it from a juristic point of view,” Zhao said, adding that China, Russia and Ukraine Supports efforts to properly resolve differences. Through conversation and conversation.
“We support the international community in playing a positive role in the pursuit of a peaceful solution. All parties should refrain from adding complicating factors in this issue”, he said.
The ICJ’s decision has not been reported by the Chinese official media. Chinese Judge Xu Hanqin, who previously served in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, was a member of the ICJ since June 2010 and was re-elected in 2021.
In 2019, Zoo surprised by voting on Kulbhushan Jadhav with an ICJ majority of 15 judges, asking Pakistan to “effectively review and reconsider” Jadhav’s sentence and sentence, and without further granting India consular access. asked for. Delay.
The verdict was delivered 15-1, with the only Pakistani judge dissenting, which leaves Pakistan completely isolated in the politically important matter. Jadhav, a retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
The 66-year-old Xu, who studied law at Peking University and Columbia University School of Law, has been part of the Chinese Foreign Ministry since 1980.