The Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai disappears without a trace after allegations of abuse, later reports back with a strange video message and the IOC also plays an opaque role. Matthias Kamp, NZZ China expert, classifies the mysterious case.
In early November, Peng Shuai accused a high-ranking ex-politician on the Weibo social network of forcing her to have sex. First, her post was deleted by the censorship of the Chinese state and party leadership. Then the tennis player disappeared from the public for several weeks. Not only the tennis world and stars like Roger Federer were concerned, their disappearance also caused an uproar in other circles.
The first signs of life from the Chinese tennis player in the form of a video message and a conversation with IOC President Thomas Bach were not really reassuring either. The video message was staged and the IOC was subsequently accused of being instrumentalized by China, the venue for the Winter Olympics next February.
“It is obvious that something is being suppressed”
Suspicions remain that Peng Shuai is being held. This cannot be refuted by China’s foreign ministry, which speaks of “malicious allegations”. Matthias Kamp, China correspondent and expert at NZZ, files the mysterious case for blue News.
“I believe Peng Shuai is not at large right now. Free foot in the sense that she can move freely where she wants. However, I don’t think she’s in a prison anywhere, ”said Kamp. The China expert assumes that she is in a kind of house arrest, “with a kind of security guard in front of the door and she is closely watched”.
He sees the activism of the nationalist “Global Times” as a sign of this with videos in which one of those present demonstratively mentions the date, “It is very obvious that something is being suppressed and staged in the other direction”.
In the video above, you can find out how things could go on with Peng Shuai and why this case is very tricky for China in Kamp’s assessment.
