Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Great concern for Peng Shuai
China railed against “malevolence”
Peng Shuai is fine, she is safe. This is what China reports, the International Olympic Committee joins them. But that doesn’t calm the critics at all. They believe that the tennis player is in great need. China defends itself against the allegations.
China has raised fears in the case of tennis player Peng Shuai as “malicious”. “I think some people should stop deliberately and maliciously inflaming, let alone politicizing, this issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said when asked whether the issue has damaged China’s international image.
He pointed out that the 35-year-old did some activities in public. The spokesman also mentioned the video call with the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach. “We hope that those sides will stop fraudulently exaggerating the matter.” Before this statement, the government had repeatedly dismissed questions about the whereabouts of the 35-year-olds as a “non-diplomatic issue”.
International concerns about Peng had recently increased. The former world number one in doubles published allegations of sexual assault by former deputy prime minister Zhang Gaoli on the Weibo social network in early November. The censors intervened immediately, deleted their mail and since then has prevented any discussion on China’s Internet. The player was also initially not seen in public, which worried the international tennis world.
IOC as China’s stooge?
Last week, the state media published video clips that are supposed to show Peng at current events. The IOC announced on Sunday that Bach had made a video call with the tennis player. She said she was safe. It remained open whether her #MeToo allegations or possible pressure from Chinese authorities on the 35-year-old were addressed. According to the IOC, she said she was living well in her Beijing home and that her privacy should be respected.
The video switch triggered criticism that the IOC had acted as a willing aid to the Chinese system. The Global Athlete sports association accused the IOC of “complicity in the vicious propaganda of the Chinese authorities and their lack of interest in basic human rights and justice”. The WTA had also raised concerns: “This video does not change our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation into their allegations of sexual assault without censorship,” said the players’ association. Because this issue triggered “our initial concern” in the first place.
The affair about the world-class doubles player brings the IOC just under two and a half months before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (February 4th to 20th) in dire straits. China is already under criticism for violating human rights.