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In Honor of Peng Shuai’s Disappearance, the Persecution of Falun Gong, Uyghurs and So Many Others, Boycott the Beijing Olympics
by Roger L. Simon

Commentary

As an avid lifetime player and fan, I was probably more aware of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai than most Americans, even media types.

I was watching on television when she cramped up in the semi-finals of the 2014 U.S. Open—her greatest success thus far—and had to be wheeled off the court, throwing the match to Caroline Wozniacki.

Peng got my sympathy then, but not nearly as much as she’s had recently since she is, as of now, a member of what is known in Spanish, because it happened so often in Argentina during the days of their military dictatorship, as the “desaparicida” (the disappeared).

Ms. Peng has vanished because, as Leta Hong Fischer explained in the New York Times:

“On Nov. 2, Peng Shuai, a former Wimbledon doubles champion, accused China’s former vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault. ‘Like an egg hitting a rock, or a moth to the flame, courting self-destruction, I’ll tell the truth about you,’ she wrote in a lengthy post on Weibo, China’s popular social media platform. Then she disappeared.”

The truth she was telling (we could say “alleging,” but in communist China, you don’t make casual accusations) was that Zhang sexually assaulted her. This while his wife was present in the house, no less—talk about patriarchal societies!

Zhang and Peng had had an on again, off again relationship, about which the tennis player was guilty and self-critical. She clearly wanted it over and assumed it was. The former vice premier equally clearly (and more violently) disagreed.

This is the first known #MeToo-type accusation toward a high-ranking Chinese official. Zhang was, until quite recently, a member of the Politburo.

Continues - site has paywall w/ some free articles each month:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_morningbrief/in-honor-of-peng-shuais-disappearance-the-persecution-of-falun-gong-uyghurs-and-so-many-others-boycott-the-beijing-olympics_4139045.html

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