With President Hu Jintao’s arrival in US, much is being made about what a global economic powerhouse China has become in the 21st century. Whether that is hyperbole is debatable, but one thing is not. When it comes to the fundamental human principles of freedom and justice, China is in the Dark Ages. Anyone seeking proof of that need look no further than the case of Zhao Yan.

For 19 months now, China has held Zhao, a researcher for The New York Times, in prison. The Chinese authorities simply held him in purgatory after yanking him from a restaurant in September 2004. Finally, last December Zhao was formally charged with revealing state secrets. The accusation is the vague catchall that party leaders invoke after reports surface of some business they want to keep quiet. In this case, an article forecast the retirement of China’s leader, Jiang Zemin, from his last official post. Authorities also tacked on a bizarre fraud charge from 2001, unconnected to Zhao’s work at The Times.

China has started another investigation, which could lead to reinstating the char-ges against him by May. Th-ere isn’t even a pretence he-re of justice and due pro-cess. Zhao, 44, is a seasoned journalist. His continued imprisonment demonstrates just how far China still has to travel before it can pretend to call itself a just society.