Tag: Zhang Gaoli

The Question the I.O.C. Is Too Weak to Ask

Chin@Strategy

Where is Peng Shuai? That’s the question the International Olympic Committee and its president, Thomas Bach, should be shouting right now — loud, demanding, and aimed squarely at the leadership in China, set to host the Beijing Games in February. But instead of firm demands, we’re hearing not much more than faint, servile whispers from Olympic leadership. Peng, 35, a Chinese tennis star and three-time Olympian, has been missing since Nov. 2, when she used social media to accuse Zhang Gaoli, 75, a former vice premier of China, of sexually…

Women’s Tennis Challenges China’s Narrative Over Missing Player

Chin@Strategy

The top official overseeing women’s tennis on Wednesday directly challenged the narrative presented by Chinese state media that a highly ranked professional player had walked back allegations of sexual assault against a top Communist Party official, saying he feared for her well-being. China Global Television Network, an English-language broadcaster controlled by the Chinese government, on Wednesday distributed an email that it said had been written by Peng Shuai, the highly ranked player. Ms. Peng has not been seen in public since Nov. 2, when she posted the accusation on social…

China’s Peng Shuai Makes #MeToo Claim Against Zhang Gaoli

Chin@Strategy

An economist by education, Mr. Zhang, now 75, rose through the ranks of the party and government. He served as governor of Shandong, the coastal province, and then as party secretary in Tianjin, the provincial-level port city on the Bohai Sea. As vice premier from 2013 to 2018, he was one of seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, headed then, as now, by China’s leader, Xi Jinping. “I know that for someone of your eminence, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, you’ve said that you’re not afraid,” Ms. Peng wrote in…