China’s foreign ministry has accused unnamed people of “malicious hyping” in the case of the tennis star Peng Shuai, in a hardline and unrepentant response to questions in the west over her wellbeing. The whereabouts and wellbeing of Peng, a former doubles world number one, has become a matter of international concern over the past three weeks, after she alleged in a message on the Chinese social media site Weibo that the country’s former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her. Peng ceased to be seen in public shortly after…
Tag: Sport
West weighs up costs of boycotting China’s Winter Olympics
Boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics in February may seem a simple, symbolic diplomatic gesture – when put alongside the allegations of labour camps in Xinjiang province and the apparent sexual exploitation of the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai – but such is the contemporary economic power of China that the step will only be taken after much agonising. The threats and economic boycotts that Australia, Canada and more recently Lithuania have suffered at the hands of the Chinese for challenging Beijing’s authority in one way or another are not experiences…
Peng Shuai: WTA says Chinese tennis star’s call with IOC chief is not enough
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s video call with the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not address or alleviate the Women’s Tennis Association’s (WTA) concern about her wellbeing, the WTA said on Monday. The whereabouts of former doubles world number one Peng have been a matter of international concern for nearly three weeks after she alleged that a former senior Chinese government official sexually assaulted her. She appeared at a dinner with friends on Saturday and a children’s tennis tournament in Beijing on Sunday, photos and videos published…
Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai tells IOC she is ‘safe and well’
The Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said she was safe and well in a video call on Sunday, the International Olympic Committee has said, amid growing international demands for assurances that she is free and not under threat. In a statement, the IOC said that Peng had spoken to its president, Thomas Bach, for 30 minutes. “She explained that she is safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time,” the IOC’s statement said. “That is why she prefers…
‘Horrifying’: Djokovic voices concern for Peng Shuai as WTA threatens to pull out of China – video
The men’s world No 1 Novak Djokovic voiced his concern for missing Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. Djokovic said he supported “100%” the WTA’s threat to pull events out of China. Peng, a former doubles world No 1, has not been seen in public since she accused the former high-ranking official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault on 2 November. A journalist from China’s state broadcaster has revealed a set of photos, which he said were posted on Peng’s WeChat social media account on Friday, but analysts debated the authenticity of…
Scepticism as Peng Shuai letter emerges claiming ‘everything is fine’
The head of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has said he is now even more concerned for the welfare of Peng Shuai after Chinese state media published a letter purportedly from the Chinese player. Peng, a former world doubles No 1, has not been heard from publicly since she alleged on social media that a former vice-premier of China, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her. The 2 November post on China’s Twitter-like Weibo was removed within half an hour and censors blocked numerous related terms including “tennis”, but the claims…
Winter Olympics top sponsors ‘silent’ over China’s human rights record
Corporate sponsors of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics have been accused of “squandering the opportunity” to pressure China to address its “appalling human rights record”. The Games’ top level sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Procter & Gamble, Intel and Visa, were on Friday accused of ignoring China’s alleged “crimes against humanity against Uyghurs” and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang as well the repression of free speech in Hong Kong. Human Rights Watch (HWR), the New York-based campaign group, said it had written to all 13 of the Olympics top corporate partners…
Beijing Winter Olympics committee denies blocking foreign media
Beijing’s Winter Olympics organising committee has rejected accusations that journalists have been blocked in their attempts to cover preparations for the Games. Earlier this month the Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) accused the Chinese authorities of “continuously stymying” attempts by foreign media to cover the Winter Olympics due to begin near the Chinese capital in February. In a scathing statement, the FCCC alleged a pattern of authorities denying or ignoring requests for access, and following, harassing and abusing journalists. It contained several accounts of specific instances from foreign journalists,…
Mounting concern over environmental cost of fake snow for Olympics
The mountains that will be the setting of the Alpine events for the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing boast spectacular scenery and breathtaking runs, but lack just one vital ingredient: real snow. Between January and March this year, the National Alpine Ski Centre in Yanqing, about 55 miles north-west of Beijing, had just 2cm of snow. London, Paris and Madrid all recorded greater snowfalls, according to data compiled by the website worldweatheronline.com. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) now faces mounting questions about the environmental cost of the Games, which open…
Tennis star accuses Chinese ruling party official of #MeToo abuse
The Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has apparently accused a former vice-premier of sexual assault, engulfing the highest echelons of Beijing’s ruling Communist party in a #MeToo scandal for the first time. Authorities scrambled to stop the allegations from spreading, with online censors even appearing to block the word “tennis”. In a now-deleted post on one of her social media accounts, Peng, 35, said she and Zhang Gaoli, 75, had an on-off extramarital “relationship” over several years, which she said he tried to keep secret. Peng said Zhang had stopped…