Florida: The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has called on the Chinese government to investigate allegations of sexual assault made by tennis star Peng Shuai.
The WTA said that Peng’s claims to be “investigated fully, fairly, transparently and without censorship”.
Peng, one of China’s most top tennis stars, accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of coercing her into sex at his home three years ago.
On November 2, the tennis star alleged on her Weibo social media account that Zhang Gaoli, who used to be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee – China’s top decision-making body – coerced her into sex and they later had an on-off consensual relationship.
Peng’s post on Weibo was deleted within 30 minutes of publication.
Worth mentioning, China’s internet is heavily censored and the private lives of top leaders are an especially sensitive subject.
Details of Peng’s reported accusations remained scrubbed from China’s Internet. Searches for her account on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform also returned no results, although the account was still accessible via a direct web link.
Peng has not been seen in public since the accusation and her whereabouts are unknown. Her Weibo account, which has more than half a million followers, is still blocked from searchers on the platform.
Zhang, 75, served on the ruling Communist Party’s seven person Politiburo Standing Committee — the country’s supreme leadership body — from 2012 to 2017 during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s first term in power. He retired as vice premier in 2018.
China’s State Council Information office and the Chinese Tennis Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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