Matt Bush, FISM News

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In November of last year, FISM reported that Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai went missing after she had accused a former member of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee of sexually assaulting her. The post was deleted 30 minutes later, and Peng Shuai was neither heard nor seen for two weeks, leading to widespread concern for her safety.

She has made a few appearances since her disappearance, but each of them has appeared to have been closely monitored leading many to wonder if the government is scripting her responses.

In a recent interview with the French newspaper, L’Equipe, Shuai now says that she never alleged she suffered a sexual assault.

The interview, however, was once again done in a highly controlled environment. BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonell compared the session to a “propaganda exercise.” 

The interview was only agreed upon after the following pre-determined conditions were met:

• L’Equipe had to submit all questions in advance with the printed piece being verbatim in question-and-answer form.
• The interview took place at a Beijing Hotel under the accompaniment of the Chinese Olympic Committee’s Chief of Staff.
• The Chief of Staff also acted as translator from Chinese to English.

Following the interview, Peter Dahlin, who runs the NGO Safeguard Defenders, tweeted an interview of Peng Shuai from 10 years ago in which she spoke “nearly flawless English”:

https://twitter.com/Peterinexile/status/1472877796754079750

This revelation begs the question as to why she needed a translator at this interview.

During the interview with L’Equipe, it was clear that Shuai was trying to move past her Nov. 2 accusations of sexual assault. According to the AP, she said that all of the concern from the outside world was the result of “an enormous misunderstanding.” She also claimed that she was the one who deleted the initial post, simply stating that she did so because she wanted to.”

Shuai’s interview with L’Equipe is the second time she denied accusing anyone of sexual assault. In December of last year, she told a Singaporean news outlet that she, “never said or wrote that anyone sexually assaulted her.”

Her stance in this interview directly opposed her original post which led to the outpouring of support and concern across the globe.

On Nov. 2 she made accusations that Zhang Gaoli, China’s former vice premier, had forced her to have sex with him in the past. She also discussed specific details about the assault that gave her claim credibility.

At the time Shuai said, “I couldn’t describe how disgusted I was, and how many times I asked myself am I still a human? I feel like a walking corpse.”

In the L’Equipe interview she further tried to distance herself from her previous remarks saying that the event has become “politicized”:

Problems in my love life, my private matters, should not be mingled with sports and politics. And sports must not be politicized because when that happens, most of the time it means turning one’s back on the Olympic spirit and it goes against the will of the sporting world and the athletes.

Many believe this is further proof of her statements being controlled by the Chinese government as they have continually called the coverage of Shuai’s statements and subsequent disappearance as a “political ploy.”

Multiple outlets are also reporting that the former #1 doubles player concurrently announced her retirement from international tennis citing her age and multiple knee surgeries.