Keystone
After France and the USA, the British government has also asked China to provide “verifiable evidence” of the “safety and fate” of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. Meanwhile, another video by Peng was circulating in China.
“We are extremely concerned about the disappearance of Peng Shuai and are closely following the matter,” said the British Foreign Office on Saturday in London. At the same time, it emphasized the right to express oneself freely.
In an interview with Sky Italia Roger Federer has now also commented on the mysterious disappearance of the Chinese Peng Shuai. «This news is very worrying. I hope it is safe. The tennis family stands together, ”said the Basler at Sky Italia. “I very much hope that she is fine.” And he also hopes that we will soon hear something from the 35-year-old.
Other tennis stars such as Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have previously expressed concern about Shuai’s well-being.
Peng, a former double winner at Wimbledon and the French Open, has not been seen in public since early November. She had previously made allegations against the high-ranking communist party official Zhang Gaoli in the online service Weibo.
The 35-year-old accused the ex-Vice-Prime Minister, who is now over 70 years old, of forcing her to have sex in the past. Peng and Zhang had had a relationship with many interruptions for years.
Beijing has since been asked to provide evidence of Peng’s whereabouts from numerous sources, including the United States, France and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Tennis stars like Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams and most recently Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal expressed concern.
Meanwhile, China’s state media circulated another video allegedly showing Peng Shuai. Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state newspaper “Global Times”, published a clip on Twitter that is supposed to show Peng Shuai at the opening of a youth tennis tournament in Beijing on Sunday.
You can see how she and other guests are called by name and greeted by the audience with applause. She waves and smiles briefly, but does not speak up herself.
On Friday evening, the Chinese state television reportedly distributed current photos of the tennis star on Twitter. On Saturday, a video was distributed – also via Twitter – that Peng Shuai is supposed to show while having dinner with friends in a Beijing restaurant.
In the past few days, worldwide clarification has been demanded in the case of the former number one in the double world rankings. Because of the Peng affair, the WTA is threatening to withdraw the tennis tour completely from China.
SDA
