Peng, one among China’s most recognizable tennis stars, accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of coercing her into intercourse at his house three years in the past, in response to screenshots of a since-deleted social media publish dated November 2.
Peng’s publish on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, was deleted inside half-hour of publication, with Chinese language censors transferring swiftly to wipe out any point out of the accusation on-line.
Peng has not been seen in public because the accusation and her whereabouts are unknown. Her Weibo account, which has greater than half one million followers, remains to be blocked from searchers on the platform.
“Peng Shuai, and all ladies, need to be heard, not censored,” Simon mentioned. “Her accusation concerning the conduct of a former Chinese language chief involving a sexual assault have to be handled with the utmost seriousness.”
Zhang, 75, served on the ruling Communist Get together’s seven individual Politiburo Standing Committee — the nation’s supreme management physique — from 2012 to 2017 throughout Chinese language chief Xi Jinping’s first time period in energy. He retired as vice premier in 2018.
Within the publish, which reads as an open letter to Zhang, the 35-year-old tennis star alleges a relationship over an intermittent interval that spanned at the least 10 years.
“Why did it’s important to come again to me, took me to your private home to pressure me to have intercourse with you?” she wrote.
Peng mentioned she didn’t have proof to show her allegations, and claimed Zhang was all the time apprehensive that she would document issues.
“I could not describe how disgusted I used to be, and what number of instances I requested myself am I nonetheless a human? I really feel like a strolling corpse,” wrote Peng.
CNN can’t independently confirm Peng’s publish, and has reached out to each her and China’s State Council, which handles press inquires for the central authorities, for remark.
Within the WTA assertion, Simon praised Peng for “her outstanding braveness and energy” in coming ahead.
“Ladies around the globe are discovering their voices so injustices will be corrected,” he mentioned.
The swift censorship of Peng’s publish in China stands in stark distinction to the response to different latest #MeToo circumstances, together with the rape allegations towards Canadian-Chinese language pop star Kris Wu.
That scandal was allowed to realize big traction on social media, dominating prime trending subjects on Weibo for days, whereas state media amplified the accusation, censuring Wu for his ethical decadence.
One in every of China’s most high-profile #MeToo circumstances concerned an intern who took a distinguished host at state broadcaster CCTV to court docket, accusing him of groping and forcibly kissing her in 2014.
A court docket mentioned in September that there was inadequate proof and dominated towards the plaintiff.
