Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai’s U-Turn Over Sex Assault:
Highlights
- Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai denies accusing anyone of sexual assault.
- Peng had previously claimed that a Communist Party official who assaulted her had assaulted her.
- Peng Shuai made her first public appearance since she made the claims.
Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has denied allegations that a critical Communist Party leader sexually assaulted her.
While insisting she is living her life freely in her first public interview since her accusations raised concerns about her safety.
But, her comments didn’t ease the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which said that on Monday, it has “significant concerns about her wellbeing and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion.”
She was the former Wimbledon tennis star and French Open doubles champion’s quickly-censored social media post last month caused worldwide concern and officials from the United Nations, the White House, and other tennis stars.
In a statement to Lianhe Zaobao Lianhe Zaobao, a Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper Peng has denied that he made the accusation.
“I would like to stress a critical point: I have never said nor written anything accusing anyone of sexually assaulting me,” the 35-year old said in video footage that appears to have been recorded via a mobile phone during the event of a sporting event in Shanghai.
“I would like to emphasize this point very clearly.”
In a post via China’s similar Twitter Weibo website, Peng had alleged that the former Vice-premier Zhang Gaoli — who is in his 70swas able to coerce her into having sexual intimacy during a relationship that was on and off lasted for several years.
The post was swiftly removed from the Chinese website. However, the screenshots were published on Twitter and triggered an outcry worldwide.
The Zaobao video in the Zaobao video, when you asked about Peng’s comments on the Weibo post, Peng said it was a “private matter” that people were able to have “many misunderstandings” about.
She didn’t go into detail.
In the film, someone is asked if she can move without restriction and whether she’s been under surveillance since making her allegations.
Peng replied that she has “always been very free.”
The WTA declared that it was not sure about the wellbeing of Peng.
“We remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault,” the group stated in a statement sent to AFP.
The WTA has been forced to cancel all tournaments in China, not just Hong Kong, over concerns regarding Peng.
“My choice’
The latest video follows pictures of Peng that were published in Chinese official media outlets and includes photos of her at an event in tennis.
They also released a photo of an email that Peng believed to have sent in the direction of the Women’s Tennis Association saying “everything is fine.”
It did nothing to alleviate anxiety.
WTA chief Steve Simon said at the time that he was having “a hard time believing” Peng’s email and wondered if she was actually in a position to speak freely.
In the most recent video, wearing an orange T-shirt and a dark down jacket sporting “China” emblazoned on them, Peng told Zaobao that the email was genuine and was written, “entirely of my own free will.”
Peng appears to speak with Chinese basketball player Yao Ming at a skiing event in the shaky video.
A few hours earlier, unconfirmed images uploaded on the internet by a Chinese state-affiliated reporter showed Peng talking to Yao and two other Chinese sports personalities -the Olympic sailing champ Xu Lijia and retired table tennis player Wang Liqin.
