A reporter, formerly of German weekly newspaper Die Zeit's Beijing office, Angela Köckritz, recently made accusations in mainstream Western media outlets that Chinese authorities had arrested her Chinese assistant Zhang Miao in early October, because she had attended events in support of the Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong.

Köckritz claimed that she left Beijing for Germany for the sake of her own safety. She alleged Zhang's arrest was not made in accordance with Chinese laws and questioned whether China is a country based on the rule of law.

The Atlantic on Monday published on its website an article titled "News Assistants: The Unsung Heroes of Journalism in China," which said that in China, "News assistants face risks that far exceed those of their foreign colleagues."

These commentaries are quite emotional. Zhang presents an unusual case. While quite a few Chinese reporters switch between working as assistants for foreign media outlets in China and domestic media, physical safety has never been a barrier. Zhang's behavior has apparently gone beyond her duty.

We suggest Die Zeit employs a competent lawyer for Zhang given its strong disagreement on whether she is guilty of provocation and incitement. This can both offer protection for Zhang and help push forward China's rule of law.

However, without a verdict in Zhang's case, Köckritz intended to carry out a trial by media of China's legal system. Her narratives fit well with the tone of Western coverage of China and were thus popular in the West.

It's been a thorny issue in China's legal sector to define and handle political acts that relate to provocation and incitement. These cases always invite criticism from dissidents in China and Western forces.

Behavior aimed at politically disrupting social order in China has to be dealt with legally, but China's laws in this regard have yet to become comprehensive and specific. As such behavior is evolving with the development of the Internet and social structure, legislation has to catch up with the trend.

Chinese authorities have to be aware that managing every case of provocation will stir up a media backlash, which entails sound evidence and lawful procedures. It took a long time to gather evidence in some previous cases while the authorities often didn't respond to the opposition voices in the country and the West, which somewhat weakened the impact of the cases.

As China is advancing the rule of law, a few dissidents and their supporters may take the opportunity to create disturbances. But this is not necessarily negative since we can take their criticisms as a driving force to promote the rule of law.

Judicial departments need to carefully and properly handle every such case in response to doubts from within and outside China and in a bid to consolidate the public's confidence.