A Chinese official praised the United Nations International Court of Justice on Thursday and called the Chinese government "an active advocator for peaceful settlement of disputes"- but he stressed that all parties must agree on the means to settle differences. The comments by Xu Hong, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Treaty and Law, were made as China is embroiled in disputes with several of its neighbors over its claims of sovereignty to almost all of the South China Sea. Last week, over Chinese objections, another international tribunal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, ruled it had jurisdiction in a case brought by the Philippines against China over competing maritime claims.

Parties must agree on how to resolve disputes, says Chinese official. (2015, November 7). Manila Bulletin, pp. 1, 5.