On Monday, January 14, Jerome A. Cohen, professor of law at NYU since 1990 and co-director of the U.S.- Asia Law Institute, gave the keynote address at an international symposium in honor of Jon Van Dyke at the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii. Professor Cohen discusses the cases of Bo Xilai and Chen Guangcheng, reflects on the current state of China’s legal system, and evaluates China’s progress in developing rule of law.

Beijing’s pending prosecution of deposed Politburo member Bo Xilai and the recent murder conviction of his wife, Gu Kailai , have again brought China’s criminal justice system to world attention. Having detained Bo in March, not until October did the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection turn him over to the state prosecutors for indictment.

International Human Rights Day is always a good time to take China’s temperature. This year, the country is especially feverish. Amazingly, 63 years after the People’s Republic was established, populous and powerful China still has no effective means of enforcing the rights enshrined in its constitution. Yet, once again, new Communist Party leaders reignite hopes for bringing government and the party under the rule of law.

Despite next week’s 18th Communist Party congress, attention inside and outside China is increasingly riveted on the forthcoming criminal prosecution of Bo Xilai , the deposed leader whose case has already done so much to upset the party’s carefully scripted plans for an orderly transfer of national power.

Just 40 years ago, as my family and I were completing a very pleasant and productive academic year in Japan, we had our first opportunity to visit China. We had been waiting to do so for more than a decade. For me, the highlight of the visit was a four-hour dinner conversation with Prime Minister Zhou Enlai.