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CHINESE TENNIS STAR Peng Shuai has denied saying she was sexually assaulted, despite a social media post from last month in which she appeared to make the accusation against a former top Communist Party official.
The Lianhe Zaobao Chinese-language newspaper posted a video of Peng taken yesterday in Shanghai in which she said she has been mainly staying at home in Beijing, but was free to come and go as she chose.
Peng told the paper: “First of all, I want to emphasise something that is very important. I have never said that I wrote that anyone sexually assaulted me. I need to emphasise this point very clearly.”
The reporter did not ask how or why the lengthy and highly detailed November 2 post appeared, or whether Peng’s account had been hacked.
The paper said it interviewed Peng at a promotional event for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which begin on February 4.
She was filmed on the observation deck of a facility where she watched a freestyle ski competition alongside former NBA star Yao Ming and other Chinese sports figures.
Peng dropped out of sight after the accusation against former vice premier Zhang Gaoli briefly appeared on her verified Weibo social media before being swiftly removed.
Screenshots of the post were shared across the internet, drawing widespread concern about Peng’s safety from politicians, fellow tennis stars and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which announced it was suspending all events in China indefinitely.
Following the posting, the three-time Olympian and former Wimbledon doubles champion appeared standing beside a tennis court in Beijing, waving and signing oversize commemorative tennis balls for children.
The foreign arm of state TV also issued a statement in English attributed to Peng that retracted her accusation against Zhang.
WTA chief executive Steve Simon questioned the emailed statement’s legitimacy, while others said it only increased their concern about her safety.
In the Lianhe Zaobao interview, Peng said she wrote the statement in Chinese and it was later translated into English but that there was no substantive difference in meaning between the two versions.
Zhang (75) was a member of the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee until 2018 and a top lieutenant to president and party leader Xi Jinping. He has not appeared in public or commented on Peng’s accusation.
Simon said the move to put a halt to the tour’s play in China, including Hong Kong, came with the backing of the WTA board of directors, players, tournaments and sponsors.
It was the strongest public stand against China taken by a sports body – and one that could cost the WTA millions of dollars.
The WTA chief has made repeated calls for China to carry out an inquiry into the 35-year-old Peng’s accusations and to allow the WTA to communicate directly with the former number one-ranked doubles player.
The International Olympic Committee has taken a different tack, with top officials saying they believe Peng is fine after video chatting with her.
The controversy surrounding Peng has added to protests over Beijing’s hosting of the Winter Games because of the government’s human rights abuses.
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She also said that it’s perfectly normal in China for your fingernails to fall out themselves
@Thomas Harrington: It looks like there is nothing this lady can say or do to stop this onslaught. Here she is with her fingernails intact, being ignored by racists who pretended to care about her: https://twitter.com/suidaila/status/1472649033806143498?t=hcyvMpUxUax1fbxOMpeBFg&s=19
Her original post never said anything about being assaulted, but this article repeats that lie yet again – putting paid to the notion of a free press. If you care to understand what’s behind the propoganda blitz, this is a good read: https://redsails.org/the-xinjiang-atrocity-propaganda-blitz/
@Thomas Harrington: For the people on this thread getting agitated about imaginary CCP atrocities, here is some information on actual atrocities which no one seems to care about: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/18/us/airstrikes-pentagon-records-civilian-deaths.html?smid=em-share
These are the people who are accusing China of war crimes without a hint of irony
@Thomas Harrington: In the US, it’s perfectly normal for the most popular TV shows to say – “we need men who want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls”: https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1472019332507090947?t=vHjjEr4NaWbcJTF3WIEcFg&s=19
The state founded on genocidal white supremacy has not changed its spots: Did the Chinese set up torture camps in Bagram, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? – with victims renditioned via Shannon airport: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/shannon-played-vital-logistical-role-in-rendition-circuits-say-researchers-1.2031609
All these pro war articles are deeply offensive – how on earth is our media falling for this stuff yet again, does anyone working in the Journal vet this stuff before putting it out?
@Kerrill Thornhill: lols good work chairwoman
This sounds entirely plausible /s
@Elaynehb: it does indeed clear everything up……
@mitchellaneou5: The Western media must feel very foolish after jumping to such rash conclusions.
@Elaynehb: yep I agree. Definitely no threats have been made against her family. Her change of heart is 100% spontaneous.
@Handsome McWonderful: you must Be very naive if you really believe this.
Lost in Translation.. clearly .. or not !
@Ciaran Dunne: Penh should just get on with her life and find a nice single man to begin a new life with.
It’s amazing what a stay in the phycological reallingnment suite can do to one’s recollection.
Actually disturbing how this story is shown in western media…not one European newspaper/online media have actually translated what she first said..easy to find her original post online and translated and contains no accusation or close to that of what we are led to believe much rather a personal account were she probably regrets posting anything now
@Brian Burns: The original post was posted on Weibo which is controlled by the CCP. It was removed within an hour of being posted. Seems odd to remove it so quickly if it doesn’t contain any allegations.
I cannot find the original post anywhere. Can you provide a link?
@Brian Burns: If the western press and the anti-China campaign says it is true, then it is not up to her to say it is not true. Her original statement on which this campaign is base could be published but that would require a bit of journalism and would not be in keeping with the stop the Olympics campaign.
@Will: it’s on Reddit
@Willie Penwright: can you provide a link I have someone say to me…I literally googled Peng Shuai original post and tons of links …power of the media is unreal people literally stop thinking
@Brian Burns: Nothing exists in a vacuum and the CCP have committed so many human rights abuses and been so obnoxious about it that we simply can’t see it as anything other than the gun pointed at her head on camera that it is.
@Brian Burns: OK, I used your search string and found the post. I read an account on a website called whatsonweibo.com and it outlines the allegations Peng made and one of the lines is “why did you come and look for me again, take me to your house, and force me into sex?”
I don’t speak Chinese so I can’t vouch for the translation but nobody in the comments section objected.
Is that not an accurate translation?
Also, the censorship on this story was extreme and immediate even for the CCP. Why go to such lengths if there’s no allegation and nothing to report other then unrequited love?
@Will: https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/qmn69a/full_translation_of_peng_shuais_weibo_post/
The Reddit translation too. Irrespective of what translation you read, it clearly implies being coerced into sex. And as you say, if it wasn’t a big deal as the apologists are saying, how come it was censored, as well as the censorship of any post in the immediate aftermath that so much as mentioned tennis? How come she is never allowed to speak to the WTA, or indeed speak in any non-scripted environment, as these official interviews clearly are?
@Will: on reddit it’s discussed with lots of Chinese speaking people it doesn’t say force…she has obvious feelings for an older married man who had sex with each other years ago…I’d say she mortified she posted it
@Joe Vlogs: Instead of mansplaining what Peng Shuai said or meant to say, you could just listen to her – she is very clear. https://twitter.com/LongLive_ThePpl/status/1472641067375857669?t=4qR08gEWnov83RTv3TkEpA&s=19
This is a war enabling propaganda. Western governments/ corporations have been making huge profits off killing people for over 400 years. When reading any article published in a Western outlet , consider what the war machine stands to gain from it before believing any of it
Maybe one Mrs Robjnson could be flown to China to pose for a convincing photograph.
ve haf vays of making you talk
@Geoff Bateman: Terrible Chinese impression.
Wow so natural, very real, all hail the CCP!
Will yez all belt up. Don’t yez all know that the Commies never lie?
In truth, it was her who came onto and seduced him.
Oops my bad!!! — butt dial post!!!
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