Sports editor Callie Hummel discusses the new claims made by tennis player Peng Shuai.
After Peng Shuai, the 36-year-old, three-time Olympic tennis player, lodged the first Me Too accusation against a high-ranking member of the Communist Party in China, she went missing just to resurface and say the whole situation was a “huge misunderstanding.”
On Nov. 2, Shuai posted a lengthy statement on the Chinese social media platform Weibo accusing Zhang Gaoli, China’s 75-year-old former vice-premier, of forcing her to have “sexual relations” with him. She writes that seven years ago, Gaoli and her had sex, but had no contact until he recently invited her over to play tennis. After they played, Shuai, Gaoli and Gaoli’s wife, Kang Jie, all went back to the Gaoli’s house and he brought Shuai into his room with a guard outside and began berating her to have sex with him. Shuai was appalled that his wife would be okay with the situation, and wanting to have nothing to do with Gaoli, she refused. The two went back and ate dinner with Jie, during which Shuai reports that she could not stop crying, but Gaoli continuously comforted her until she felt better. After dinner, she finds the comforting came from ulterior motives, as he demands again for the two to have sex. When Shuai denies him this time, he exclaims that he hates her, and that he helped her exponentially over the seven years they were apart. Out of guilt and mixed emotions, Shuai gave in and they had sex with Gaoli’s wife in the house. The recollection of events Shuai posted have since been translated to English, therefore the exact quotations may not be worded the exact way Shuai wanted.
A half an hour after the post was published, the heavily censored Chinese Internet had already removed the post, blocked anyone from searching for “tennis,” “Peng Shuai,” or “Zhang Gaoli,” and suspended accounts sharing screenshots of the post in hope to keep the spread of information limited. However the post spread around China and then around the world, creating a story with international attention.
The situation also garnered international worry, because immediately after the post, Shuai went missing for 18 days. Shuai was the country’s biggest tennis star, so the tennis community did not take lightly to her disappearance. The Women’s Tennis Organization, Association of Tennis Professionals and multiple high-ranking tennis players publicly pushed for an investigation. On Nov. 14, the Women’s Tennis Organization (WTO) officials announced they still were unable to contact Shuai.
On Nov. 17, CGTN, a Chinese state-owned media company, finally released a statement about Shuai, saying she was “resting at home” and that “everything [was] fine.” The post also included an email that Shuai allegedly sent to WTO that the news about sexual assault allegations are not true, and she is not missing or unsafe. For good reason, the WTO did not accept or believe this statement, and the search for Shuai, and the battle on censorship, continued. The Association of Tennis Professionals and President Joe Biden both announced they want “verifiable proof” that Shuai is truly okay and not just statements by the Chinese government. Photos of Shuai in her house playing with stuffed animals were the result of these demands, a media outlet claiming they were photos she sent to her friends.
On Feb. 6, Shuai made her way back into the spotlight to make a personal statement of her conditions with a French newspaper, L’Equipe. The interview took place in Beijing in a controlled hotel room, and the two journalists were allotted an hour of time. L’Equipe revealed that they had to submit questions in advance, and present them in front of a Chinese Olympic committee official.
The most notable part of the L’Equipe interview was when Shuai stated that the whole situation was a “huge misunderstanding” and when asked about the sexual assault allegations she responded, “sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to sexual assault.” In the duration of the interview, Shuai also claimed that she was the one that erased the post in November because she realized sports, her romantic life and politics should not be mixed and that her life since November has been, “as it should be: Nothing special.”
Shuai also used the interview to announce her official retirement from tennis, which sparked warnings with many as Shuai is only 36-years-old, without injury, and was continuously winning awards and tournaments leading up to November.
Shortly after the interview was published, Marc Ventouillac, one of the L’Equipe journalists covering the story, went on record to say he believed the L’Equipe interview was “Chinese propaganda.” He revealed that even though he was in the same room talking with Shuai, he couldn’t tell if she was truly safe. He also fielded his opinion that the interview was only performed so that Shuai’s disappearance didn’t overshadow the 2022 Winter Olympics currently happening in Beijing.
While the information and interviews have people creating and sharing their own opinions on what’s happening to Shuai, most seem to agree on one thing: Peng Shuai is still not safe.
