CAMBRIDGE, England -- China is in the process of establishing the rule of law. Not common law as in England or civil law as in most other countries, but socialist law. The basic difference between socialist law and other forms of law, it seems from recent practice, is that only the Chinese Communist Party can set the law and decide whether or not the courts and other enforcement agencies are correctly interpreting it.

There is no scope for judicial review of whether or not the party or government is acting in accordance with the law. Even to mount a challenge can be regarded as a criminal act, as the two men who challenged the right of the party to persecute the Falan Gong found out last week when after issuing the writ against Chinese President Jiang Zemin they were arrested and thrown in jail (including a Hong Kong citizen). In this situation amendments and additions to the still very rudimentary legal framework are carefully scrutinized to see if they are adding or cutting back on the freedoms of Chinese citizens.

The new Measures for Managing Internet Information Services issued Oct. 1 have been the subject of detailed examination by those concerned about basic civil rights in China. It is not just the market that punished Chinese Internet stocks on Wall Street when the measures were published, but more generally the Western media has found them wanting.