Chinese tennis star says she was sexually abused by former vice premier Zhang Gaoli
Peng Shuai made the accusation on social media. Hong Kong-listed shares of the politician's family plummet. Sportswoman says she wanted to tell the truth even though it's like "using an egg to hit the stone." Chinese authorities refuse to comment and set wheels of censorship in motion.
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has revealed that she was sexually abused for years by former vice premier Zhang Gaoli. The accusation appeared in a long post circulated on Weibo, a sort of Chinese Twitter. It is the first time in China that a complaint of the "MeToo" movement touches a heavyweight of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although authorities immediately removed the original message, the scandal has sparked discussion about corruption and the private lives of the country's top leaders.
Four stocks linked to the Zhang family, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, plummeted between 5% and 10%, causing market losses of HK billion (€2.2 billion). Put Lee (李圣泼), husband of Zhang Gaoli's adopted daughter, is a shareholder and executive of many companies in Hong Kong. The "Panama Papers" published in 2016 by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists had revealed that Lee owned three offshore companies at the time.
Peng Shuai, 35, is a level-headed tennis player who has defeated many top-10 players in the world; in 2013, she won the Wimbledon women's doubles paired with Taiwan's Hsien Su-wei, also triumphing at the 2014 French Open.
According to Peng's description, her relationship with Zhang dates back a decade, when the Chinese politician was the Party chief in Tianjin, before being promoted to a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body in the CCP and therefore the country, and serving as vice premier. After the 19th CCP Congress, Zhang gradually left power and disappeared from the public scene. He is considered a member of the clique of Jiang Zemin, China's former president and general secretary of the Party.
The tennis player claimed that Zhang had cut off contact with her since he was promoted to Beijing. In her post, Peng recalled an episode that occurred in 2018, after the leader had retired from his post as vice premier. Invited to Zhang's home, Peng had accused the politician of "forcing" her into a sexual relationship. The argument allegedly took place while Zhang's wife was outside the door. The tennis player wrote that Zhang was concerned that she had recorded their talks to leave evidence. Peng clarified, however, that there is no audio or video of those encounters.
Authorities triggered the censorship very quickly. The original post has been deleted and web content about Peng is inaccessible. Even the word "tennis" is a forbidden topic on Weibo. At the end of her post, the tennis player wrote that she decided to tell the truth even though it's like "using an egg to hit stone, a moth flying towards fire, self-destruction."
Zhang and Chinese authorities are silent on the accusation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters that he had "heard nothing about the matter and that it was not a diplomatic affair." In China, sex scandals and extramarital affairs are common allegations against officials fired over power struggles; however, it is rare for the private lives of Party leaders to be so blatantly exposed on the web.
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05/08/2021 12:44
