Chinese sports star Peng Shuai has accused a retired vice prime minister of sexual assault. Her accusation leads the #MeToo movement, which is also burgeoning in China, to the top of the ruling party for the first time. The former world number one in tennis doubles made the allegations public Tuesday night on her verified Weibo account, the Chinese counterpart to Twitter.
Peng wrote that Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex a few years ago before she agreed to start a year-long affair with him. Born in November 1946, Zhang was a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the top management level of the Communist Party, between 2012 and 2017. Peng, 35, also wrote that she could not provide any evidence to support her allegations. “I know that I can’t say everything clearly and that there is no point in saying it. But I want to say it anyway.” Requests for comments from international media have so far remained unanswered. Zhang and various political authorities have not yet commented either.
Posting disappeared
Although the posting was deleted within a few minutes after publication, screenshots were circulating in China’s closely controlled Internet, for example in various WeChat and iMessage groups. Internet searches for her name appeared to be blocked on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported. According to the “New York Times”, even the word “tennis” has not been hit in China. This is one of the reasons why it has not yet been possible to verify the authenticity of the posting, explained the Washington Post, for example.
“The authorities have previously charged government officials with sexual misconduct, often in connection with corruption investigations. However, never before has an allegation of sexual misconduct been made public against a senior political leader like Mr. Zhang,” the New York Times wrote on Wednesday.
Peng won two Grand Slam tournaments with Wimbledon (2013) and the French Open (2014). Since then she has been one of the biggest sports stars in China. (apa)
