New York (People's Daily) - Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Duan Jielong was elected as a judge on the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea on Monday at the 30th Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention.  

File photo: Agencies

Seven judges were elected to the court. The first round of ballots elected five judges. They are David J. Attard (Malta), Ida Caracciolo (Italy), 

María Teresa Infante Caffi (Chile), Maurice Kengne Kamga (Cameroon), and Markiyan Kulyk (Ukraine). The newly elected judges have a term of nine years and will start serving on October 1, 2020. The second round of balloting is scheduled for August 25 to elect the remaining seat.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea was established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and is  responsible for handling international maritime disputes. The tribunal was established in October 1996 in Hamburg, Germany and consists of 21 independent judges. Since the establishment of the court, three Chinese judges have served in the court. These were Zhao Lihai (1996-2000), Xu Guangjian (2001-2007) and Gao Zhiguo (2008-2020).