China on Tuesday got its first judge on the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s highest court, six years after the country joined the Geneva-based body.

Chinese lawyer Zhang Yuejiao was formally appointed by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) as a member of the seven-person Appellate Body, which issues final rulings in trade disputes, WTO sources said.

This came after Taiwan withdrew its objection to the appointment of Zhang, enabling the WTO to name four new judges and avoid a crisis that threatened its operations.

Bruce Gosper, chairman of the DSB, said last week that if Taiwan continued its opposition, the trade arbiter could face a crisis because it was unable to operate normally. The Taiwanese objection caused the adjournment of the DSB's monthly meeting.

With Taiwan's decision to back down, the WTO on Tuesday appointed Zhang and three other judges "according to the Dispute Settlement Understanding, which stipulates that the appellate body shall 'comprise persons of recognized authority, with demonstrated expertise in law, international trade and the subject matter of the WTO agreements generally,'" the Geneva-based organization said in a statement on its Web site.

The three other judges are Lilia R. Bautista of the Philippines and Jennifer Hillman of the U.S. -- whose four-year terms begin Dec. 11 -- and Japan's Shotaro Oshima, who along with Zhang will start June 1.

Zhang, 63, is the first appellate body judge from China, which joined the WTO in December 2001. She acted as legal counsel for China during its WTO accession talks and was one of the chief negotiators in intellectual property discussions with the United States and the European Union.

Zhang is a professor of law at Shantou University in China. She is also an arbitrator on China's International Trade and Economic Arbitration Commission and practices law as a private attorney.

Zhang once held positions at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce as well as at the Asian Development Bank.

"China highly appreciates the tremendous efforts" that were made "to make sure that this DSB regular meeting finally takes place, without which the operation of the dispute settlement mechanism, one of the key components of the WTO, would be endangered," Chinese Ambassador Sun Zhenyu said in a statement to the DSB yesterday.

(SD-Agencies)