A dozen of Chinese young scholars of international law in the Netherlands are preparing to launch an open letter to contest the erroneous exercise of jurisdiction and abuse of legal process in the South China Sea (SCS) arbitration unilaterally initiated by the Philippines.
The open letter also highlights the significance of state consent as the very foundation of international judicial and arbitral organs and call for attention to the dangerous tendency towards the judicial and arbitral expansion in the field of the Law of the Sea, the drafters of the letter told Xinhua.
Peng Qinxuan, 29, Ph.D candidate of international law at Utrecht University, said the idea of writing an open letter hit her like a "natural reflex" to a "bizarre" case.
"A decade-long study on international law and international relations leaves its mark on me. I have always put faith in the international justice by international law. And I am always interested in examining international judicial and arbitral cases," said Peng.
Peng and her colleagues closely followed the highly controversial SCS arbitration case during the past months.
"Many of us share the analysis that no matter how smart the Philippines' disguise is, the real issue in this case is barely about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation. The UNCLOS does not deal with territory issues and China has excluded delimitation disputes from compulsory settlement procedures. Evidently the tribunal has no jurisdiction over this case," said the Ph.D candidate.
As the arbitration proceeds despite worldwide questioning, Peng felt an urgency to take action.
"How could such a bizarre case openly violating UNCLOS provisions keep advancing in The Hague, the capital of international law? How can we stay silent in face of such a lawfare which carries ulterior motives? The eyes of the arbitrators are blindfolded with the leaves of the Philippine claims, and they cannot see the mountain behind the leaves. But we lawyers of international law have the duty to pierce the veil," she said.
Peng, who is also head of an association of Chinese students and scholars in the Netherlands, was not alone in her drive.
Among 8,000-more Chinese students studying in the Netherlands, over 100 are scattered in faculties of law across the country. A dozen of them, specialized on international law and the Law of the Sea, set up a research group for the drafting of the open letter.
Xu Qi, a 26-year-old Ph.D candidate on the Law of the Sea at Groningen University, volunteered to contribute with his academic knowledge.
"After many rounds of discussions we decided to present our own analysis of problems of the tribunal's jurisdiction ruling based on the provisions of the UNCLOS and also on the historical facts," he told Xinhua.
Three months of brain-storming produced a 2,500-word document so far.
The young scholars tried to build their case on four aspects: state consent as the basis of compulsory arbitration; territorial disputes and maritime delimitation as real disputes of the SCS case; abuse of legal process and ultra vires acts in the SCS arbitration; the SCS arbitral awards being neither binding nor helpful.
