In a new development in the case of Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis star who accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her to have sex, the president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said he is considering giving up events sports in China that are worth millions of dollars if the tennis player’s accusations are not properly investigated.
“We are definitely willing to stop our business and deal with all the complications that come with it,” said Steve Simon in an interview with CNN on Thursday (18). “Because this is certainly bigger than business. Women need to be respected, not blamed.”
China has been one of the main expansion points for international tennis tournaments. In 2019, the country hosted nine WTA competitions with millionaire prizes, and after the cancellation of tournaments that were scheduled for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the association planned to resume Chinese events in 2022.
The post in which Peng told about the violence she had suffered was deleted about half an hour after it was published, which has not prevented an increase in the search for the tennis player’s name on the hyper-controlled and censored Chinese internet.
The fact that Peng has not been seen publicly since then also raises concerns for her safety and is stirring other big stars in the sport such as Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic. On social networks, the hashtag #whereispengshuai (where Peng Shuai is) groups the content about the case and follows with tens of millions of mentions.
“We get in touch with her on all phone numbers, email addresses and other forms of contact,” WTA’s Simon told CNN. “There are so many digital approaches to getting in touch with people these days, and so far we haven’t been able to get an answer.”
On Wednesday, Chinese state broadcaster CGTN released what it said was an email Peng had sent to the WTA chairman. In the material, the tennis player allegedly said that the accusations of sexual violence she published were not true. “I’m not missing or in danger. I’m just resting at home and everything is fine,” the email says.
In a statement, Simon said he has “difficulty believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email or believes what is being attributed to her.” Speaking to the American press about the case, he described the supposed message as an act and reaffirmed that he will only be comfortable when talking directly to the tennis player.
The United Nations (UN) also commented on the case, stressing the importance of obtaining evidence of Peng’s whereabouts and safety. “We strongly urge that an investigation be carried out with full transparency into their allegations of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights told a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
In addition to censoring the topic on Chinese social networks —the topic Peng Shuai does not produce search results on Weibo, which is equivalent to Twitter in China—, Beijing continues to avoid commenting on the case.
Hu Xijin, editor of the newspaper aligned with the Chinese Communist Party Global Times and an active Twitter user although the platform is blocked in China, commented on the case on Friday (19). “As a person familiar with the Chinese system, I don’t believe Peng Shuai has received the retaliation and repression speculated by foreign media.”
Asked about Peng’s whereabouts and possible damage to China’s image ahead of the Winter Olympics scheduled for February, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian gave an answer he called “very simple”. “This is not a foreign affairs issue and I am not aware of the situation you mentioned,” the diplomat said.
US President Joe Biden confirmed at a press conference on Thursday that he is considering a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Through a spokesperson, the International Olympic Committee said it would not comment on the matter. “Experience shows that silent diplomacy offers the best opportunity to find a solution to issues of this nature.”
understand the peng shuai report
According to a screenshot of Peng’s verified account on Weibo, a kind of Chinese Twitter, the tennis player claimed that Zhang Gaoli, who was part of the Politburo Standing Committee, the body that represents the Chinese Communist Party’s top management, coerced her into having sex and that they then had an intermittent consensual relationship.
In the message, the sportswoman said she had no evidence to support her allegations. The post 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.
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