The “International Law Review of Wuhan University” started in 2003. It has been published 26 high-quality collections by book publishing in 14 years. It has become one of the few serial publications in China focusing on the field of International Law. And it also has been successively included as the source journal of "Chinese social science citation index" (CSSCI) since 2008. At present, the " International Law Review of Wuhan University" has established a journal exchange relationship with the Saarland University and the University of Trier, Germany; the Institute of Comparative Law, Swiss; the Huber Institute of Groningen University, the Netherlands; and the Waseda University, Japan. This publication has been collected by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law(UNCITRAL) and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. In the UNCITRAL's 2009 “newest bibliography related to UNCITRAL”, this journal is the only Chinese publication cited. Taking advantage of the country's high-level think tanks construction, the "International Law Review of Wuhan University " was approved by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and officially changed to a bimonthly issue from 2017.
The purpose of the " International Law Review of Wuhan University" is to gain a rational insight into various events in the development of contemporary international society. With an open mind, to accommodate all kinds of doctrines on criticizing the current maladies; to pragmatically develop new areas of international law research and development, Provide theoretical basis or practical reference for China's foreign-related legislation and judicial practice.
The main permanent columns of this journal include: monographs, law of the sea, issues of "One Belt and One Road", law of the world trade organization, international investment dispute settlement, international civil litigation, international law practice, international law case analysis, and the selected results of the think tank.
The " International Law Review of Wuhan University" welcomes the contributions of international law scholars at home and abroad, especially papers on international law (including Public International Law, Private International Law, International Economic Law and related foreign law or comparative law) with novel topics and unique insights and academic values. The journal implements an anonymous review of the manuscript. After the manuscript is adopted, the editorial department will contact the author in time. If the author fails to receive the notice of contribution for one month, he/she can handle it by himself/herself. Please submit the electronic version to the submission email: whuilr@whu.edu.cn or whuilr@163.com.
A guide to "International Law Review of Wuhan University", the 2nd issue of 2017
1.The Features
1.1 The nature of international complemental responsibility to protect and its performance regulation
Author: Zhao Zhou, professor of Law School of Nanjing Audit University.
Abstract: The subject of “Responsibility to Protect” has been classified into sovereign state and international community. As far as international community is concerned，the complemental responsibility demanded by “Responsibility to Protect” lacks force support of existing international law，so it has not become legal obligation which has manifest binding force. Because of restriction of various factors，the complemental responsibility to protect has not become and impossibly tends to be obligation of customary international law. In the current circumstance, the complemental responsibility to protect is just a special obligation at the political and moral level. For whether or not and how to intervene for protection，political and moral obligation provide open room for international community and its members，but which simultaneously result in possibility that the complemental responsibility to protect may be improperly implemented and even abused. Thus， the norms and mechanisms on restriction and regulation should be specially discussed，established and perfected by international community，especially in the aspect of non-force coercive measure and force intervention measure.
Key words: responsibility to protect; coercive measure; human rights; complemental responsibility to protect; restriction and regulation
1.2 The promotion of domestic rule of law by the UN human rights treaty bodies: analysis and investigation based on the theory of rule of law dynamics
Author: Yu Hewei, J.D. at law school of Xiamen University, 2014, and associate professor of Henan Justice Police Vocational College.
Abstract: The rule of law has a multi-level meaning and is dynamic. The rule of law elements influence and promote each other in many fields，such as domestic law and international law. The rule of law dynamics not only comes from the domestic，but also from abroad. When promoting the progress of a country’s domestic law International institutions plays a considerable role in the process. There are two reasons for UN human rights treaty bodies to promote the development of the rule of law. First，they are necessary conditions for the rule of law. Second，the human rights and the rule of law are inseparable in theory and reality. These institutions，through general comments，concluding observations，communication comments and the other ways，to transform international human rights standards into domestic rule of law, to promote the constitution and the law of a country towards good governance，to promote the establishment and improvement of the judicial mechanism，to promote the substantive content of rule of law，to promote the dissemination of knowledge about human rights and rule of law. China should attach importance to the role of the UN human rights treaty bodies on the promotion and progress of the rule of law.
Key words: rule of law; UN human rights treaty bodies; dynamics of rule of law; domestic rule of law
1.3 Mapping on the Legal System of Law of jus post bellum
Author: Li Ruohan, Lecturer of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, National University of Defense Technology, J.D.
Abstract: Being affected by the War and Peace Dichotomy，international society members do not give enough attention to law of jus post bellum when they are improving international legal systems. But with the aggravation of peace and security problems relating to post conflict reconstruction practices，the core idea of law of jus post bellum that durable peace can be achieved by regulating post conflict reconstruction actions of international society meets general approbation of international society members. The construction of law system of jus post bellum are most important for the improvement of rule of law，peace-building and basic human rights in post conflict society.
Key words: post conflict society; post conflict reconstruction; durable peace; law of jus post bellum
1.4 A study on the legal issues of national security review system of china’s foreign investment
Author: Yang Liyan, professor of School of International Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law; Li Tingting, LL.M of School of International Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law.
Abstract: China has become one of the capital output countries in 2016. The dual identity of investment in the host country and the home country put forward a severe challenge for China’s foreign investment legislative reform. The BIT negotiation between China and the United States is still in process，the reform of China’s foreign investment law is also still in progress. That is one of the important principles of drafting “the People’s Republic of China for Foreign Investment Law ( Draft) ”that foreign national security review system being incorporated into the law of foreign investment and further improved in it. This article is intended for improving the design of the system of legal rules. It is important to reflect on selecting China’s national security review of foreign direct investment legislation mode by research existing legislative style national security re- view in the world，to combine the status quo of our national security review of legislation. Also it focuses on the legal rules of FDI national security review in both China and US，respectively by comparing and analyzing two countries “scope of review” clause，“review content” clause and “review structure” clause，then to reflect on the system design issues of the national security re- view，and provides that improvement recommendations for China’s existing foreign investment of national security review of legislation: to erect the special law，to make sure of the scope of the review，to set carefully review security factors; to improve oversight review recommendations.
Key words: foreign investment; safety factors; national security review
1.5 Latest developments of rules on the right to regulate in recent international investment agreements
Author: Zhang Qinglin, professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of International Law of Wuhan University;
Zheng Yanjun, LL.M candidate in International Economic Law at Institute of International Law of Wuhan University.
Abstract: Traditional international investment agreements focused their attention on the protection of investors’ rights，which seriously constrained policy space of host states. With more attention on public interest and the deepening crisis in investment arbitration，the right to regulate has become the key element in latest developments of law and policies on international investments. Recent international investment agreements of the U.S. and the EU，such as the 2012 U. S. Model BIT，and the Investment Chapter of TPP，CETA and TTIP，have responded to the hot issues. By analyzing these significant substantive and procedural rules of American and European investment agreements on the regulatory regime of host states，this article will try to predict future trends of developments on the right to regulate in international investment agreements，and thus to provide valuable reference for China to negotiate BITs and to improve its Foreign Investment Law.
Key Words: IIAs; right to regulate; BIT; ISDS
1.6 The application of Chinese approval requirements on
external guarantee in the UK courts: focusing on the Case of Emeraldian
Author: Dong Jinxin, lecturer at law department of China University of Petroleum (Hua Dong), J.D.
Abstract: The approval requirements on external guarantee，as a rule of immediate application without the reference of conflict rules，are applied by Chinese courts to all the foreign-related cases over guarantee. Without approval，the relevant contracts of foreign-related guarantee are invalid in China. In the case of Emeraldian，where the Rome Convention was applied，the UK courts did not recognize Chinese approval requirements on external guarantee，unless one of the following conditions were satisfied: Where the approval requirements on external guarantee were the law applicable to the contract，the conditions provided in Article 3(3)of Rome Regulations I were satisfied，or the approval requirements constituted public policy in accordance with rules of common law. With the promulgation of Rome Regulations I，the application of the third-country rules of immediate application has been accepted in the UK. Chinese approval requirements on external guarantee may constitute the third-country rules of immediate application. However，the external guarantee contracts that are invalid due to disapproval still have certain civil effects ac- cording to Chinese laws. It is uncertain for the UK courts，by use of the third-country immediate application，to apply Chinese approval requirements on external guarantee. Therefore，true conflicts exist between the UK and China in determining the validity of disapproved external guarantee contracts. It is necessary to explore the reasons for such conflicts，and to find a way for China to solve this issue.
Key words: rules of immediate application; external guarantee; mandatory rules; Act of the PRC on Application of Law to Foreign-Related Civil Relations
2 Special topics on the EU Law
2.1 The judicial dialogue between the Luxembourg and national courts in the framework of European multilevel protection of fundamental rights
Author: Fan Jizeng, J.D. candidate in comparative law and European law at the University of Superior Scuola Sant'anna Pisa, Italy.
Abstract: Both informal and formal mechanism of judicial dialogues between the Luxembourg and National Courts exist under the framework of the European multilevel protection of fundamental rights. The Luxembourg Court usually constitutes a general principle of the EU law through the reference to the national constitutional provisions which is regarded as the typical informal mechanism of judicial dialogue. The Court establishes the EU general principle through diverse judicial techniques. In addition，regarding that the general principle derived from the Convention rights has been regarded as the reasonable interference with the fundamental economic freedom，the Court will assess the justification of the interference through the proportionality test，that is，the interference recognized by EU public interests will be approved. Otherwise，the EU will take any interference as an infringement to the core of rights. However，the Court must reconcile a contradiction between the maintenance of the EU legal order and respect of constitutional order of the member states，because the European Constitutional Court may trigger the doctrine of “counter-limit” to protect their constitutional order. In the judicial practices，the Court will leave a large margin of appreciation to the member states in the cases irrelevant to the uniform market affairs and social policy，whereas it strongly defends the EU law authority even that it may undermine the domestic constitutional order. The mechanism of preliminary reference provides the formal forum between the national and supranational courts. Although the European Constitutional Courts had persisted that they were not belonging to the “court or tribunal” provided by the Art. 267， many of them give up this conservative opinion. Obviously，it is necessary for the Constitutional Court to join in the dialogue with the Luxembourg Court. On one side，it will force the Court to prudently interpret the EU provisions; on the other side，the national Constitutional Court can express their worries on the interpretation of national Constitution to the Luxembourg Court.
Key words: European fundamental rights; judicial dialogue; preliminary ruling mechanism; the doctrine of counter-limit; the Court of Justice of European Union
2.2 On the principle of direct effect of the EU Charter of fundamental rights
Author: Chen Yayun, associate professor of Henan University School of Law, J.D.
Abstract: The principle of direct effect has been established and further developed by the European Court of Justice (the Court) case by case. As an important guidance dealing with the relationship between European Union law and member states’ national law，it has played an important role in strengthening the integration of EU，ensuring unified interpretation and application of EU law，and maintaining EU autonomy. With the development of judicial practice，although the Court has explained the extension and connotation of the principle of direct effect，the applicable scope and conditions, there are still many problems. They mainly center on double standards for judging the direct effect of international treaties while more and more complicated situation for judges to make decision and violation of principle of legal certainty. After the Lisbon Treaty，the direct effect principle also confronted challenges brought by EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. From the existing cases，the Court tends to deny the horizontal direct effect of the Charter，but under certain conditions combined with a directive，to implement the principle of the EU granting it horizontal direct effect，which posed great challenges and uncertainty to the effective implementation of the Charter.
Key words: principle of direct effect; horizontal direct effect; Lisbon Treaty; EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
3 Special topics on the International Investment Arbitration
3.1 The limit of collective claims in ICSID Investment Arbitration: a reflection on Argentina’s Sovereign Debt Restructuring Disputes
Author: Gong Yu, associate professor of Xiamen University School of Law, J.D.
Abstract: In the area of international investment，where a regulatory measure of the host State infringes the rights of numerous investors，there will be a possibility that many investors initiate investment arbitration against the same host State in one proceeding，i.e. “collective claims”. While collective claims may help improve the efficiency of investment dispute resolution and realize the consistency of awards，it has belonged to the “grey area” due to the lack of explicit legal basis under ICSID regime. In Argentina’s Sovereign Debt Restructuring Disputes， collective claims were pushed to the extreme，and therefore triggered controversy on the limit of collective claims. Based on the historical positioning of ICSID regime and the legal basis of in- vestment arbitration，the application of collective claims should not break the balance of interests between investor and host State，and should be conditioned on the explicit or implicit consent of the host State.
Key words: ICSID; investment arbitration; collective claims
3.2 An analysis on the new approach to the explanation on the Clause of Local Remedies for a Certain Period of Time
Author: Chen Danyan, J.D. candidate in International Law at Xiamen University Law School, and lecturer of College of Humanities and Law, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University.
Abstract: In the field of international investment law，although many international investment treaties have abandoned the rule of Exhausting Local Remedies，there are a number of investment treaties that prescribe using local remedies for a certain period of time as a prerequisite for the submission to international arbitration. From the Maffezini case on，investors and tribunals often invoke the most favored nation clause in the treaty to circumvent the application of this prerequisite. Recently，four ICSID tribunals’ decisions，including the Abaclat tribunal，which inaugurated a new approach to explain this local remedies clause，are worthy of attention. By explaining this requirement as futility，these tribunals excluded the application of using local remedies for a certain period of time as a prerequisite. Under the background of the reform of investment arbitration system，it is necessary to fairly and effectively explain the requirement to use domestic remedies for a certain period of time in the investment treaties，in order to achieve a balance between the protection of the interests of investors and the legitimate rights and interests of the host country. It is necessary for countries，including China，to respond actively by ways of clarifying the relevant provisions of its international investment treaties，publishing a joint interpretation and submitting the state opinions.
Key words: local remedies clause; purpose interpretation; futility exception; effective interpretation
