中国外交抗议在南海仲裁程序中的法律意义

China's Position Paper on the South China Sea Arbitration:Legal Implications under the Diplomatic Objections

《中华人民共和国政府关于菲律宾共和国所提南海仲裁案管辖权问题的立场文件》连同先前一系列通过外交抗议方式否定仲裁庭管辖权的声明,构成了中国反对仲裁庭行使管辖权的抗辩。虽然仲裁《程序规则》中并未明确规定此种抗辨的法律地位,但是通过对国际司法和仲裁实践的分析,可以得出结论,即以非正式参与为形式的对仲裁庭管辖权的外交抗议应被视为与正式参与仲裁程序所提出的"先决性抗辩"具有相同法律地位和法律效力。因此,仲裁庭应在审理案件实体问题以前单独设立对案件管辖权的审理程序,并对自身是否具备管辖权作出裁决。

The Position Paper of the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Matter of Jurisdiction in the South China Sea Arbitration Initiated by the Republic of the Philippines,with a series of the previous declarations which were against the Arbitral Tribunal to exercise its jurisdiction,have constituted the informal plea of China that the Tribunal does not have jurisdiction over the Arbitration case.Although the legal status of the informal plea has not been stipulated clearly in the Rules of Procedure of this case,it could be appropriate to argue that,this kind of plea,which in terms of diplomatic objections,shall be deemed as,and has the equal effect to the preliminary objection,on the basis of the analysis of international judicial practice.Therefore,the Tribunal shall bifurcate the proceedings into two stages,and shall duly decide on its jurisdictional and admissible issues prior to the ruling on the merits.