On the heels of the arrest last month of Australian citizen Stern Hu, mining giant Rio Tinto's top negotiator in Shanghai, China's foreign ministry spokesman promptly pronounced Mr. Hu guilty of stealing state secrets, even though there had been no trial.
In the next breath, apparently seeing no contradiction, the official declared China is a country where the rule of law holds sway. In fact, what China has today is not the rule of law, but rather rule by law, with the government applying the law selectively against its critics while not behaving lawfully itself.
That is probably why the government has viewed with hostility the handful of rights lawyers in the country who dare to take on politically sensitive cases and try to ensure the government itself is subject to the law. For their efforts to ensure the rule of law prevails, these lawyers have been threatened, kidnapped, beaten, imprisoned and disbarred.
Last year, after the government cracked down on demonstrators in Tibet, lawyers who offered legal help to defendants were reprimanded and threatened. After the tainted-milk scandal erupted, lawyers were warned not to represent parents of children sickened by melamine in baby formula.
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