On November 2, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai in Weibo post alleged that former Vice-President Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her when they were in a relationship. Weibo is China’s state-run social media platform.
Peng Shuai,
35, has won two Grand Slam women's doubles titles, the first was at Wimbledon
in 2013 and the second at the Roland Garros tournament in 201
Zhang, 75, served as China's Vice-President
between 2013 and 2018 and is supposed to be a close ally of Chinese President Xi.
Peng Shuai claimed the intermittent
affair with Zhang continued for years and on occasions the sex was consensual.
She also acknowledged
that she had no audio or video proof to back up her claims.
The post was removed, twenty minutes
following its publishing. It remains unclear if Peng Shuai removed it herself
or it was the doing of Weibo.
Shuai has not
been seen in public since then.
On November 14, the Women's Tennis Association
(WTA) Chairman and CEO Steve
Simon said in a statement that they were still
unable to establish contact with Shuai despite multiple attempts.
Fellow tennis players such as Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams also raised concerns.
On November 17, Chinese state-owned
media, CGTN's Twitter account posted a screenshot of an email from Shuai to the WTA
claiming she was well.
The gist of the email was that she is
resting at home and that "everything is fine" and the allegations
of sexual assault were false.
On November 19, a reporter for Chinese
state-run news media, posted photos on Twitter that has Peng Shuai posing with stuffed animals.
In addition to the three photos, a
WeChat screenshot has Shuai sending a "Happy weekend" photo to her
friends.
There is no way to establish the dates on which these photos were taken.
To sum it up, it all appears very suspicious.
Peng Shuai is a sensation in China, a search
of her on China's most popular search engine, Baidu, yields over seven million
results.
Following this incident, there has allegedly been a massive
clampdown on the Sina
Weibo microblog, China's equivalent of Twitter, to prevent people from discussing
any matters related to Peng Shuai.
A search of her name and the word ‘tennis’
now yield posts only from verified state-run media accounts and not regular
users.
Her Weibo account that has over half a
million followers no longer appear in search results.
It is standard practice in communist China to
restrict search results and impose censorship for topics including China's top
leadership, China's Politburo, and any matter of controversy.
This has caused Chinese social media to
invent creative euphemisms to express themselves.
Ironically, Twitter users in democratic countries
have had similar experiences.
Peng Shuai's accusations are the most recent in a
series of high-profile MeToo cases in China.
Back in 2018, TV host, Zhou Xiaoxuan, made claims
against prominent TV personality, Zhu Jun in an online essay that resulted in several victims relating their own experiences
of sexual harassment. Mr. Zhu refuted the allegations.
Ms. Zhou filed a lawsuit against Zhu
but the case was dismissed.
Since the very beginning, the Biden administration has been restrained while dealing with China.
Back in March, Chinese
officials had sharply rebuked the Biden administration before the global press.
During their recent virtual
summit, President Xi Jinping warned his "old friend" Biden that
encouraging Taiwanese independence would be
"playing with fire".
Such strong-worded comments would have
been unthinkable in the past.
Confronting China on issues such as Taiwan
is difficult, if taken to its extreme it could result in a full-scale war which is
most undesired.
Challenging China on its unfair trade
practices and currency manipulation is difficult since US businesses are
inextricably connected to China. It could result in losses for US businesses
that are already suffering due to Biden’s faltering economy.
For matters such as the origin or
Covid19 or human rights abuses in Hong Kong and of Uyghurs, the
lack of a free press or physical access means that it is impossible to know basic facts, which makes the quest for justice almost impossible.
To sum it up, these issues are complex, any
attempt to resolve them would be consuming, economically burdening, and
unfeasible unless a durable global coalition is built.
The disappearance of the very popular Pen Shuai is
devoid of any complexity. She is the victim who deserves justice and not
persecution.
The Me Too movement with its goal to protect women
from sexual violence and to punish predators is an issue that can unite every
nation on moral grounds.
By punishing the victim, the Chinese are clearly
siding with the predator and is the obvious villain.
This is an issue that can easily galvanize global
support, not just among world leaders but people, all demographics especially
the young who are usually tuned out. It could also receive popular support within
China.
The resolution to this issue is simple, it requires no physical access to the interiors or any other complex time-consuming operations.
Either Pen Shuai makes a live appearance before the global
press and eventually receives justice or there is a problem.
There is no moral justification to keep her
confined or restrained.
This is a golden opportunity for the world to unite
embark on a mission to challenge China.
Quite often it is these issues that arouse empathy
and seem deeply personal that can really galvanize global support.
The White
House has reacted with a claim that Biden
wants "verifiable" proof from
China of Shuai's safety.
The UK
Foreign Office has also demanded evidence of Peng Shuai’s safety.
Will Biden and Harris be as verbal about Pen Shuai
as they were about the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse?
Will they relentlessly confront China on the
matter until it is resolved?
Will they build a global coalition that will
punish China economically until the matter is resolved?
Let’s hope the answer to those questions is
contrary to what we have experienced so far.
This article also appears on www.AmericanThinker.com
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/11/the_disappearance_of_peng_shuai.html
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