The tennis world has begun to speak out in recent days about the case of Peng Shuai, 35, a Chinese sports star who earlier this month accused the country’s former vice premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her to have sex. .
According to news agencies, Peng has not been seen since she revealed the episode on a Chinese social network, in a message later deleted.
Under the hashtag #whereispengshuai (where Peng Shuai is), athletes like Naomi Osaka, who has four Grand Slam titles in her career, shared concerns on social media. “I was recently informed of a fellow tennis player who disappeared shortly after revealing that she had been sexually abused,” the Japanese woman wrote on Tuesday (16). “Censorship is never ok at no cost. I hope Peng Shuai and his family are safe and well.”
The number 1 on the men’s circuit, Novak Djokovic, also spoke. “I don’t know much about it, I heard a few things a week ago and it’s honestly surprising that [ela] has disappeared,” he said at a press conference this Monday (15). “I hope they find her and that she is well. It’s terrible.”
Ex-American player Chris Evert and French Alizé Cornet (59th in the ranking) also joined the movement. “I’ve known Peng since she was 14, we should all be worried, it’s serious. Where is she? Is she safe? Any information would be welcome,” wrote Evert on Sunday (14).
Under pressure from speculation over the whereabouts of the former world doubles number 1, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), backed by the men’s tennis regulator (ATP), has called on China to investigate the charges. To the American newspaper The New York Times, the president of the WTA assured having received confirmation from several sources, including the Chinese federation, that Peng is safe and free from physical threats.
“We are deeply concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the immediate safety and location of Peng Shuai. The recent assurances received by the WTA have reassured us, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” said ATP president, former tennis player Andrea Gaudenzi, in communicated.
China’s State Information Council and the country’s tennis association did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment when the WTA ruled on the case.
the peng shuai charge
According to a screenshot of Peng’s verified Weibo account, a kind of Chinese Twitter account, the tennis player claimed that Zhang, who was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, which represents the Communist Party’s top leadership, coerced her into having sex and then later , they had an intermittent consensual relationship. In the message, the sportswoman said she had no evidence to support her allegations.
The post was deleted about half an hour after it was published, which hasn’t stopped a surge in demand for Peng’s name on the hyper-controlled and censored Chinese internet. Screen replays were also shared in closed groups in the WeChat and iMessage apps.
Zhang, now 75, was China’s Vice Premier between 2013 and 2018. He was also party secretary for Shandong Province and was a member of the Politburo Standing Committee between 2012 and 2017. Peng, in turn, was No. 1 in the world doubles rankings in 2014, becoming the first Chinese tennis player to reach the top of the list, after winning the tournaments at Wimbledon in 2013 and Roland Garros in 2014 (both alongside Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei).
#methoo chinese
For years, cases of sexual harassment and abuse were rarely publicly discussed in the country. The landscape changed in 2018, when the #MeToo movement arrived in China after a university student in Beijing accused a teacher of harassment. The episode caught the attention of NGOs, the press and other sectors.
This year, the accusations regained strength, with cases such as actor, model and rapper Kris Wu. Former member of a K-pop band, he was exposed by the influencer Du Meizhu, in a case that came to light after the young woman gave an interview to a website.
According to a police statement at the time, Kris’ agent asked Du to go to the singer’s house on the pretext of selecting her to appear in a music video. Upon arriving at the scene, the young woman, underage at the time, was allegedly forced to consume alcohol and have sex with him. She also accused the singer of soliciting more than 30 minors and forcing relationships with them. Kris denied the allegations, but lost millionaire contracts with sponsors.
Another indictment against a famous person who reverberated this year was that of Hunan Satellite TV presenter Qian Feng. Ahead of several variety shows, he was known for making sexual jokes and sexist comments on television.
Qian became the center of a huge controversy after a woman, identified on the internet as Xiao Yi, reported on Weibo that she was sexually abused by him in 2019. an excessive amount of alcohol until you lose consciousness.
The next day, she woke up naked in Qian’s apartment, not remembering what happened after dinner. She said the presenter admitted the abuse and said he used a condom with her.
Qian would have offered money to keep the victim quiet. She refused and went to the police, who refused to pursue the complaint because the presenter “asked for forgiveness”. Xiao said he developed deep depression and tried to commit suicide several times after the incident.
After the complaint, the presenter was removed and investigations into the case were reopened — the authorities denied the closing of the previous investigation due to the apology.
internet in china
As in the case of Xiao and Peng, social networks are usually the main channel for exposing complaints, as the local press in general does not cover the topic. Even so, discussions in online spaces are not far from the eyes of the government, which watches the internet in the country — avoiding, for example, publications that speak ill of the regime.
For this, a series of laws and digital blocking tools were created, as part of a policy that has been improved since the 1990s. Companies in the country’s digital market are obliged to monitor and restrict user activity, under penalty of losing the right to operate. Citizens who violate the rules can be fined and imprisoned.
Internet control is part of the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship policy, which also prohibits the circulation of news and information that the government dislikes or that, in the regime’s view, could cause problems for society.
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