Will this be enough to reassure and thus calm international critics? Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai appeared at a tennis tournament in Beijing this Sunday, official photos from the event show.
Wearing a navy sports jacket and white sweatpants, the player appears in photos from the Fila Kids Junior Tennis Challenger Finals, posted on the official China Open Weibo account. This is his first public appearance since his accusations of sexual abuse were widely censored on the Chinese internet.
Global outcry
Peng Shuai, 35, a former world number 1 doubles player and star in her country, had not been seen publicly since accusing Zhang Gaoli, a powerful ex-Communist Party official 40 years her senior, of having forced her to have sex during a discontinuous relationship lasting several years.
Following a global outcry, including from tennis stars and the United Nations, Chinese state media published a series of footage purported to show all is well with the athlete. A video from Sunday’s event, posted on Twitter by Hu Xijin, influential editor of the Global Times, shows Peng standing in the middle of a group of guests whose names are announced to the applauding audience. A journalist from Global Times tweeted another video showing Peng signing autographs for children at what appears to be the same stadium before posing for photos with them.
The Chinese #MeToo movement had never yet reached the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party before the post attributed to Peng. These were quickly removed from the Weibo platform and concerns about Zhang’s safety have grown ever since. The Chinese government has repeatedly declined to comment on the matter. Discussions of the charges are blocked on China’s tightly controlled internet.