Buried the Peng Shuai case? The slogan “Where is Peng Shuai” is in any case outdated. Sunday, November 21, the former tennis champion appeared in public during a junior competition. The day before, state media reporters had shared videos of her attending a dinner in town. And Sunday evening, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a statement announcing that its president, Thomas Bach, had been able to speak with the player. After more than two weeks without news following her rape accusations against a senior Chinese official on November 2, we now know where Peng Shuai is: she is in Beijing, presumably at home, and was able to go out several times to attend events. Nothing says, however, that the champion is free.
As such, the IOC statement is particularly light: the organization, which is preparing to organize the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, relayed the communication from Beijing, without mentioning the allegations of rape against the former number seven in the regime, Zhang Gaoli, at the origin of the case. “Peng Shuai thanked the IOC for their interest, for their well-being. She explained that she was safe and sound at her home in Beijing, but that she would like her privacy to be respected. This is why she prefers to spend time with her family and friends at the moment. ” According to the organization, all is well for Peng Shuai and it is better to leave her alone.
According to the New York Times, Peng Shuai was accompanied during the interview by a “Friend” to help her express herself in English, as she speaks the language fluently after fifteen years on the international circuit. In the past, China has often staged the forced confessions of dissidents, intellectuals or fallen former rulers.
Today’s date
The IOC’s appeal crowns Beijing’s propaganda efforts this weekend. A campaign that avoids official channels: the media and Chinese diplomacy completely dismiss the subject. And for good reason, the case remains censored in China. State media journalists were responsible for distilling photos and videos of the player on Twitter, a platform blocked in China. After a series of photos supposedly from M’s WeChat accountme Peng Friday, several videos appeared this weekend.
Saturday, the editor of the very nationalist Global Times, Hu Xijin, who claims ties to power, posted two short videos of the player “Having dinner with her trainer and friends in a restaurant” in Beijing and tours the same day, he said. The subject of the conversation is… today’s date. A second video lingers on the date entered at the entrance of the establishment to prove the authenticity of the document, as in the “proofs of life” of hostage takers.
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