Now, more than two weeks on, Beijing is facing a storm of its own making, as the global women’s tennis community has emerged to challenge the Chinese authorities for remaining silent before one of its opponents. their profession.
Peng, 35, a two-time former Grand Slam champion, has disappeared from the public eye since she accused former Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, 75, of forcing her to have sex at his home during a deleted social media post on 2 November. Since then, Chinese censors have diligently checked her name and even the most obscure references to her allegations. it’s from the internet.
Concern only increased after Chinese state media published a screenshot of an email, purportedly from Peng and sent to the WTA, responding to her sex allegations and claiming “everything all fine.”
With less than three months to go before the Winter Olympics, analysts say the controversy, if left unresolved, could snowball into an unprecedented showdown between the sports community at large and Beijing.
“Sports fans worldwide will pay attention to this story, including billions of people,” said William Nee, research and advocacy coordinator at the China Human Rights NGO (CHRD). ) said.
“This is an absolutely possible disaster for the Chinese government. With each day approaching the Winter Olympics, the disaster will be bigger and bigger for them – if they don’t deal with this.”
The Beijing Olympics, scheduled for February, are facing growing calls for a boycott of the Chinese government’s crackdown on Xinjiang, Tibet. and Hong Kong. And the global outcry over Peng’s disappearance – who played in three Olympics – could amplify those calls, Nee said.
Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it would not comment on the matter and recommended a “silent diplomacy” approach, Reuters reported. CNN has reached out to the IOC for comment.
Live challenge
But the WTA refused to play along.
“There are so many times in our world today when we get into problems like this that we let business, politics, money decide what’s right and what’s wrong,” said Simon, who head of the WTA, said in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
“We have to start as a world that makes decisions based on right and wrong, and we can’t compromise with that,” he said. “We’re certainly willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it. Because this is for sure, this is bigger than the business.”
By preparing to turn its back on access to the Chinese market, including a 10-year deal to hold its annual finals in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, the WTA is posing a challenge. directly to Beijing.
Beijing regularly uses market access as a powerful lever to force Western businesses to conceal human rights, or to interfere in issues like Taiwan and Hong Kong. But in the case of the WTA, such tactics did not go as planned.
“So far, from a business and human rights standpoint, the WTA is doing a much better job than most of the companies that have been involved in the controversies in China. And this really shows a the way forward on how to do it”. Nee with CHRD.
Mareike Ohlberg, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund’s Asia Program, said the bold move the WTA took was “the right thing to do.”
“That’s what many organizations should do,” she said. “Most organizations are very afraid of China, (afraid of) China might punish them. I think it’s important that a lot of organizations realize that they are also very afraid of China,” she said. there’s a certain amount of leverage,” she said.
The nature of Peng’s allegations also sets her case apart from previous political controversies involving China’s crackdowns in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. In those cases, a furious Beijing often lashes out at Western companies for meddling in “China’s internal affairs”.
But the women’s rights movement knows no national boundaries. Up to now, the Chinese government has stopped the #MeToo policy. It has exploited its authoritarian apparatus to detain, imprison, threaten and silence Chinese feminists and their supporters. And it has mobilized its propaganda machine to portray feminism, a wave of Western influence designed to weaken China.
But now, such tactics could backfire, as the global #MeToo movement helped bring attention to Peng’s case, Ohlberg said.
“It’s a transnational movement that has ties overseas, and so you can’t just limit it to a single country, and you can’t silence people in China,” she said. .
“And that’s why it’s important that people continue to speak out about these things internationally. Because if you live in China, the state has a lot of options to stop you,” she said. speak. “(The international community) has a certain responsibility to show solidarity.”
Beijing’s dilemma
By staying silent with Peng, Beijing is facing an unusual dilemma. If Peng were to appear on state television, analysts say many would regard what she said as salt in the water, given China’s long record in state media of broadcasting her confessions. coercion or other statements made under coercion by persons in extrajudicial detention.
And while in Western democracies, it would be easy for the ruling party to deny such accusations, or even alienate a senior official, in China, party leaders are not vilified by members. members of the public criticized.
And Zhang is no ordinary leader. He served on the seven-member Polituro Standing Committee of the Communist Party, the country’s supreme governing body, along with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The only way senior leaders will fall out of favor is to be disciplined by the party itself – as some have done during Mr. Xi’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign.
To date, the Chinese government has repeatedly refused to comment on Peng’s case. Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Peng’s allegations were not a diplomatic matter and declined to comment further. CNN has reached out to the Information Office of the State Council of China for comment.
Hu is the only senior state media propagandist to have commented on Peng’s case in public – albeit on a platform banned in China.
“As someone familiar with the Chinese system, I do not believe that Peng Shuai has received the retaliation and suppression that the foreign media speculated on because of what people have been talking about,” he said. wrote in the early hours of Thursday – apparently too afraid to mention the defendant’s name, or the nature of the charge.
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