A translation error is to blame. In a video message that appeared on Sunday, Peng Shuai asserted that the sport-political crisis in which China is 45 days before the Winter Olympics was simply based on a misunderstanding. “I would like to emphasize a very important point: I have never said or written that there has been a sexual assault against me by someone. I have to emphasize that clearly,” said the former world number one in tennis doubles on the sidelines of a cross-country skiing she visited Events in Shanghai.
It is not the first attempt at appeasement – and as with the previous ones, outside the borders of China, the impression prevails that Peng was more or less compelled to make her statements. Because a semantic translation error does not sufficiently explain why the 35-year-old disappeared for almost three weeks after the social media post in question at the beginning of November. Peng had accused ex-Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, one of the most powerful men in the Communist Party, of sexual assault on the Chinese platform Weibo.
Under pressure from international sport – above all the WTA women’s tennis tour, which recently withdrew all of its tournaments from China – Peng’s first signs of life appeared. “We want a full, fair and transparent investigation without censorship,” WTA boss Steve Simon continues to urge Peng to leave the country so that she can report freely.
Will not play anymore
When asked if she wanted to travel abroad, Peng Shuai said in the interview that she no longer actively plays tennis and because of the pandemic does not currently intend to leave China: “What should I do out there now? ” She said the last time she lived at her home in Beijing – without surveillance: “Why should someone watch me? I have always been free.”
The IOC has so far avoided public pressure on China. Zhang played a leading role in the Olympic bid, and in this role also met IOC President Thomas Bach.
Source: Nachrichten
