Author: Ann Kent, ANU

Over the last six months, Australia has been undergoing a sharp learning curve in its relations with China. This has come about courtesy of China’s detention on 5 July 2009 of Rio Tinto executive, former Chinese national, and now Australian citizen, Stern Hu, together with his three colleagues, Liu Caikui, Ge Minqiang and Wang Yong, all Chinese nationals. Aside from the shock the Hu case has represented to most Australians — accustomed since the 1980s to viewing China as a relatively benign presence in our region — the main lesson has been that China’s version of the rule of law is quite different from Australia’s and that that version may also, in times of stress, impact on our own society.

The first and most important part of this unwelcome lesson has been that China’s is not so much a rule of law as a rule by law. Read more…