Amid global outcry over Peng’s fate and with “Me Too” being made public again in China, it seems the Women’s Tennis Association is poised to take the lead, which is remarkable. .
However, apart from manifesto The United Nations Human Rights Office said that China not only needed to prove that Peng was alive and well, but also to participate in a thorough investigation into her alleged sexual assault, the Women’s Tennis Association said. women have entered. WTA President and CEO Steve Simon has not only questioned the authenticity of the a purposeful email from Peng put out by CGTN, China’s state broadcaster, claiming she was fine and largely quashing allegations of sexual assault, he asserted that the union would withdraw its business out of China – worth hundreds of millions of dollars – if China does so. disobey.
Tennis is a rapidly growing sport in China, and the WTA has promote to make it more, even further move the final round of WTA from Singapore to Shenzhen in 2019, where there are plans to build a multi-million dollar tennis stadium as part of a 10-year deal.
While China’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly declined to comment on the storm surrounding Peng, insisting it is not a “diplomatic matter”, the tennis federation has gone further to stand up against China than any other. any other organization, including the National Basketball Association and especially the International Olympics. Committee, will return to China early next year for the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Peng’s disappearance adds to the long list argumentative IOC is facing regarding these games.
But the IOC should rethink its stated approach to “quiet diplomacy” when it comes to Peng’s situation. A three-time Olympic athlete, she is part of a global community that the IOC continues to honor as its badge of pride.
Of course, the controversy in the months leading up to the Olympics is nothing new, from Adolf Hitler’s revolt before the 1936 Berlin Olympics to the postponement of Tokyo 2020 amid the global coronavirus pandemic. In 2014, the Sochi Olympics took place in Protest against Russia’s anti-gay law, Vladimir Putin’s bloated budget and many environmental disasters, while back in 1968, Mexico City hosted the Olympics despite deadly student protest, punctuated by the black-gloved hands of Americans Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
But as Beijing completes preparations to once again assume the role of host city, the storm around China is growing stronger. In 2008, Beijing vividly demonstrated how complex the Olympic host role can be. Business interest in China has largely alleviated global concern about the country’s human rights record, as well as an overarching theme propagated by the IOC and media partners that beauty of sport, and the immense strength of the Olympic community, will help usher in a new era for the country.
By focusing on how willing China is to welcome the world to its doorstep through sport, the Olympics have identified past corruption as forgiven, with global sport creating draw a demarcation line that allows China – regardless of suffering of its own people during the start of the games – to make “self new”, as NBC described before the spectacular opening ceremony.
Last month, the protesters waving the Tibetan flag Celebrating the torchlighting of the Winter Olympics in Olympia, Greece, is just another chapter amid calls for boycotts, delays and even moving the event out of Beijing. Despite this, IOC President Thomas Bach, who attended the ceremony in Olympia, was promised that the Winter Olympics in Beijing will provide an “important moment to bring the world together in a spirit of peace, friendship and solidarity.”
But Peng’s disappearance had a heavy impact on that global moment.
While the recent (virtual) conversation between US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping was seen as progress on its own, little impact resulted from their meeting on trade issues, fear of climate change, arms control or the global coronavirus pandemic. However, after their exchange and focus on the Uyghur community, Biden announced the possibility of a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympic Games, a symbolic gesture that allows athletes to compete while government officials stay at home. Because an Olympics without government officials is … well, to be exact.
Tennis has gone a lot further. It may be time for world leaders, diplomats and the countries and institutions they represent, to follow its signs, like its stars – from Billie Jean King to Naomi Osaka, Chris Evert to Serena Williams – was come out forcefully to ask for answers regarding Peng, and the head of the WTA, Simon, asked China for the accountability that very few others have.
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