Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said on Sunday (December 19) that she had never accused anyone of sexually assaulting her, and that a social media post she had made early last month had been misunderstood. For the unversed, Peng in November had claimed that a former top Communist Party of China (CPC) had forced her into sex. Peng, speaking to the Chinese language Singaporean newspaper, Lianhe Zaobao, in Shanghai, said she was living at her home in Beijing and was not under any kind of official supervision. Sunday’s short interview to Zaobao on the sidelines of a sports event in Shanghai was the first time Peng directly spoke to the media after dropping out of sight following her allegation that former CPC politburo standing committee member and vice-premier Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her. Peng had posted the allegation on her verified Twitter-like Weibo account.On Sunday, however, Peng denied her own allegation. “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,” Peng said, according to a translation of what she told the newspaper reporter in Chinese. Asked about the allegations made on Weibo, Peng Shuai said: “First, I would like to stress a very important point: I have never said nor written anything accusing anyone of sexually assaulting me. I would like to emphasise this point very clearly. ”She added: “Regarding Weibo, first of all, it’s a matter related to my personal privacy. Everyone has had many misunderstandings. Their misreadings do not stand.”
According to a report by another Singapore newspaper, the Straits Times, when asked if she was under surveillance following the matter, she replied after a brief hesitation: “Why would that be the case? I have always been very free.” Peng Shuai added that an e-mail she had sent to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) head Steve Simon in November assuring him that she was safe was legitimate. Peng, a former Chinese world number one in doubles tennis, had accused former Zhang, 75, of coercing her into having sex and subsequently continuing an on-and-off secret relationship with her for years. Her #MeToo allegation against Zhang had sparked an online firestorm and swift censorship in China in the first week of November.
Zhang, the vice premier, was among the seven members of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body in China, between 2013 and 2018, under President Xi Jinping.The WTA, which early this month said it would suspend tournaments in China immediately due to concerns over the treatment of Peng Shuai and the safety of other players, continued to call for an investigation. “It was again good to see Peng Shuai in a public setting and we certainly hope she is doing well,” it said in a statement. “As we have consistently stated, these appearances do not alleviate or address the WTA’s significant concerns about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion,” the WTA said. “We remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern. ”China has not directly commented on Peng’s initial post, but said after the WTA’s move to suspend tournaments in China that it “opposes the politicisation of sports”.