The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China criticized, on Tuesday (23), what he called “politicization” of the case of tennis star Peng Shuai, in the first public demonstration of the regime on the sexual harassment accusations made by the athlete against a former manager of the country.
Asked at a news conference about the impact of the controversy on China’s image, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded briefly.
“This is not a diplomatic matter,” he said. “I hope that certain people will stop maliciously exaggerating, of politicizing the issue,” he said, without explaining who he was referring to in his statements.
Peng’s whereabouts have been an international concern for nearly three weeks after she posted a message on social media claiming that former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her.
After several days gone, she reappeared over the weekend in Beijing and made a video call with IOC (International Olympic Committee) President Thomas Bach on Sunday, but the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said this did not alleviate concerns about your well-being.
Amnesty International China researcher Alkan Akad also told Reuters news agency that the video call did little to allay fears about Peng’s well-being and that the IOC was entering “dangerous waters”.
Concern about the athlete’s situation and the IOC intervention also came at a time when human rights groups and the President of the United States, Joe Biden, suggest a boycott of the next Winter Olympics, which will be played in February, in the capital. Chinese.
On November 2, Peng posted on Chinese social media Weibo that Zhang had forced her to have sex and that they later had an intermittent consensual relationship. The publication was deleted shortly after its publication.
According to a screenshot of Peng’s verified account, the tennis player claimed that Zhang Gaoli, who was part of the Politburo Standing Committee, the body that represents the Chinese CP top, coerced her into having sex and that they later had a relationship. intermittent consensus.
In the message, the sportswoman said she had no evidence to support her allegations. The publication was deleted, but reproductions of the complaint were shared on other social networks.
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, meanwhile, 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 Wimbledon tournaments in 2013 and Roland Garros in 2014 (both alongside the Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei). She also represented China at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, and Rio in 2016.
For years, cases of sexual harassment and abuse were rarely publicly discussed in China. The scenario changed in 2018, when the #MeToo movement arrived in the country, after a university student accused a teacher of harassment. The episode caught the attention of NGOs, the press and other sectors.
As in the case of Peng, social networks are usually the main channel for exposing complaints, as the local press in general does not cover the topic. But discussions in online spaces are also not far from the eyes of the government, which watches the internet in the country.
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. Anyone who violates 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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