British stone. St. Petersburg, Florida (Associated Press)-The head of the Women’s Professional Tennis Tour has called for a full investigation of allegations of sexual assault by the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion from China against senior Chinese government officials.
Earlier this month, former doubles ranked No. 1 Peng Shuai wrote in a long social media post that Zhang Gaoli, a former deputy prime minister and member of the Communist Party’s plenipotentiary Politburo Standing Committee, forced her to refuse repeatedly after playing a round of tennis three years ago. , But still had sex.
Her post-deleted from her verified account on Wiebo, China’s leading social media platform-also stated that they had a one-off relationship seven years ago, after which she developed feelings for him.
“Peng Shuai and all women should be heard, not censored. Her allegations of sexual assault by a former Chinese leader must be taken seriously. In all societies, what she claims to happen needs to be carried out. Investigate, not be forgiven or ignored.
We commend Peng Shuai for his extraordinary courage and strength for coming forward. WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon said in a statement released on the tour on November 14 that women all over the world are looking for their own voices, so injustices can be corrected.
“We hope that this issue is handled properly, which means that the allegations must be investigated in a comprehensive, fair, transparent and unreviewed manner,” Simon said.
Peng has won 23 tournament doubles titles, including Wimbledon in 2013 and French Open in 2014. She was a singles semi-finalist at the 2014 U.S. Open.
Her accusation is the first accusation against a well-known government official since the (hash) MeToo movement took root in China in 2018, and was subsequently suppressed on a large scale by the authorities in the same year.
In the post, 35-year-old Peng wrote that Zhang, now 75, and his wife arranged to play tennis in Beijing about three years ago, and then he took her to the room where he was sexually assaulted.
“I was scared that afternoon, I didn’t expect this to happen,” the post said.
Zhang retired in 2018 and has basically disappeared from public life, as usual for former Chinese officials.
