
HONG KONG -- China has ratcheted up its campaign to discredit the July 12 ruling by an international tribunal in The Hague over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, as top Chinese legal experts have leapt to the country's defense.
The latest attack came from Xue Hanqin, a judge at the International Court of Justice -- the United Nation's primary judicial organ, who criticized the tribunal's verdict for fueling tensions in the region.