Chinese Tennis Star Says She Will ‘Tell The Truth’ About Former Top Leader Over Sexual Assault Case
Professional Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai accused a former vice-premier of China’s Communist Party of sexual assault, marking the first time a prominent Chinese politician has been publicly accused of sexual assault.
Peng, 35, made the allegations Tuesday on her official account on the social platform Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. The post, which was almost immediately taken down, described an assault that began following an on-and-off consensual relationship with Zhang Gaoli, the New York Times noted.
Peng also wrote in the post that Zhang tried keeping their relationship a secret and stopped contacting her after he rose to power.
However, when Zhang retired about three years ago, he invited her again to play tennis with him and his wife. He then forced her to have sex with him in his house, according to reports.
“I never consented that afternoon, crying all the time,” Peng wrote.
According to the post, Peng said she would never be able to gather evidence to prove the accusations but she would continue to speak up in efforts to empower China’s #MeToo movement.
In response to the allegations, China’s “Great Firewall” went up, blocking searches of Peng’s name and the word “tennis.” Users were also unable to comment on her posts and her account was hidden from searches.
In 2014, Peng reached the U.S. Open semifinals in singles and teamed with Hsieh Su-wei as the No. 1 doubles team. Peng and Hseih won two Grand Slam women's doubles trophies -- one at Wimbledon in 2013 and one at the 2014 French Open.
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