Foreign ministry takes unrepentant stance to concerns in west over wellbeing of tennis player
Vincent Ni China affairs correspondent
Tue 23 Nov 2021
China’s foreign ministry has accused unnamed people of “malicious hyping” in the case of the tennis star Peng Shuai, in a hardline and unrepentant response to questions in the west over her wellbeing.
The whereabouts and wellbeing of Peng, a former doubles world number one, has become a matter of international concern over the past three weeks, after she alleged in a message on the Chinese social media site Weibo that the country’s former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her. Peng ceased to be seen in public shortly after she made her allegation on 2 November.
Some countries are weighing up a potential boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is due to take place in February, and assurances by Chinese authorities that Peng is safe and well have been met with scepticism, especially by the Women’s Tennis Association.
“This is not a diplomatic matter,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, told a regular press briefing on Tuesday. “I believe everyone will have seen she has recently attended some public activities and also held a video call with the IOC [International Olympic Committee] president, [Thomas] Bach. I hope certain people will cease malicious hyping, let alone politicisation.”
Mentions of the 35-year-old have been heavily censored in China since early this month. But outside the country, an online campaign under the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai – joined by stars including Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams – has taken off, particularly after the Chinese state media published an email purportedly written by Peng that said she was “fine”.
Peng reappeared over the weekend in Beijing and held a video call with the Bach on Sunday. The IOC reported that she was “safe and well”, but its apparent attempt to ease international concern drew it into the line of fire. The organisation was subsequently accused of staging a “publicity stunt” for Beijing.
“That’s not a safeguarding call by any means. Tennis should have been able to have that call, it should have been a safeguarding officer having that call – not a publicity stunt,” said Nikki Dryden, a human rights lawyer and former Olympic swimmer for Canada.
With talk of a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games on the rise, pro-government actors in China are framing the issue as an ideological struggle with the west.
“The ideological conflicts between China and the west will escalate before the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 as anti-Chinese forces will converge to make trouble for China,” the Global Times wrote in an editorial on Monday.
“China used to care about maintaining a harmonious atmosphere with the west and the way being regarded by the rest of the world, particularly by the west. This needs to be changed.”
Reuters contributed to this report
China urges people to stop 'malicious hyping' of Peng Shuai's case
BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - China has called on people to stop "hyping" the case of tennis star Peng Shuai, whose disappearance after alleging an affair with a top Communist Party official caused international outcry.
"I hope some people stop the deliberate and malicious hype, not to mention politicising the issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Tuesday (Nov 23), adding that it was not a "diplomatic issue".
Peng went missing earlier this month after posting a 1,500-character essay on her verified Weibo account recounting a tumultuous relationship with former Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli.
Her post was scrubbed from the internet and attempts by the media and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to contact her were unsuccessful.
Zhao declined to answer a question on why Peng's account had been censored on the internet in China, where her case has not been reported by any media available in the country and international television stations have been knocked off air when they mention the star.
When asked why previous questions and answers on Peng had not been included in the ministry's daily briefing transcripts, Zhao said: "The readout of the regular press conference is not always a word-by-word record of what is being asked and answered. My question for you is, 'Do you report every word I say?'
After tennis greats including Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic last week joined the growing chorus of international figures demanding to know Peng's whereabouts, Chinese state media posted a series of videos and pictures of Peng on Twitter over the weekend. The images showed Peng smiling at home, eating out with friends, and at a tennis event in Beijing.
"Can any girl fake such sunny smile under pressure?" Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the Communist Party-owned tabloid Global Times, wrote on Twitter. His China-facing Weibo account made no reference to Peng, and his newspaper did not report her re-emergence.
The International Olympic Committee, which has hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in the Beijing Winter Games starting in February, on Sunday vouched for Beijing's version of events.
After a 30-minute video call with Peng Shuai, chair of the Athletes' Commission Emma Terho said she was "doing fine".
That statement did not satisfy the WTA, which has threatened to pull its business in China, also worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if Peng is not allowed to speak freely.
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