From October 23 to 27, 2017, Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Xu Hong led a delegation to attend the "International Law Week" meeting held by the Sixth Committee of the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, during which he participated in the deliberation on topics of the Report on the 69th Session of the International Law Commission, expounding China's positions on 6 subjects including immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, crimes against humanity and jus cogens. At the 28th Informal Meetings of Legal Advisers (Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law) of Ministries of Foreign Affairs held on October 24, Xu Hong delivered a speech under the topic of "Role of International Law and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes in Conflict-prevention". He stressed that the right of all countries to choose freely peaceful means of dispute settlement must be fully respected, and that the principle of "consent of states" must be strictly complied with. All means to dispute settlement should be conducive to solving rather than aggravating the disputes or causing conflicts and confrontations.

On October 24, Xu Hong attended regular consultation of Director-Generals of the Departments of Treaty and Law (Legal Advisers) of Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, exchanging views with Director-Generals of the Departments of Treaty and Law (Legal Advisers) of Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the US, Russia, the UK and France on respective new progress in domestic law, subjects of International Law Commission, work of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and other topics. On October 25, Xu Hong chaired the informal consultation of Director-Generals of the Departments of Treaty and Law (Legal Advisers) of Ministries of Foreign Affairs of BRICS countries, exchanging views on topics of common concern, such as subjects of International Law Commission, exercise of self-defence right against non-state actors and other issues concerning international law.

Xu Hong also met with Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and Legal Adviser Miguel de Serpa Soares and Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs Stephen Mathias of the UN as well as met with Legal Advisers of Ministries of Foreign Affairs from Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Israel, Serbia and other countries and Legal Advisor of International Committee of the Red Cross, exchanging in-depth views on enhancing cooperation with UN law department, bilateral judicial and law enforcement cooperation, relevant progress of international humanitarian law and other international law issues.

During the meeting, Xu Hong briefed various parties on the grand occasion of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the report delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping, and mainly expounded General Secretary Xi Jinping's diplomatic concepts concerning building a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind. Xu Hong expressed that China always firmly maintains and promotes international law, and will attach more importance to international law's significant role in realizing international fairness and justice.