Missing Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai Resurfaces

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai — who went missing last November after accusing a high-ranking Communist Party official of sexual assault — came out of seclusion for a “controlled” interview with French sports newspaper L’Equipe in Beijing on Monday.

Her message: Everything’s fine here, situation normal.

The fact that there was a Party official present and millions are tuned in to watch the Beijing Olympics where Communist China is trying to put a smiley face on everything had nothing to do with it, you can be sure.

The AP reports:

Peng told L’Equipe that the concerns were the result of “an enormous misunderstanding.” But the format of the interview appeared to allow for no sustained follow-ups, with questions submitted in advance and a Chinese Olympic committee official sitting in on the discussion, translating Peng’s comments from Chinese.

The “misunderstanding” concerns a lengthy social media essay, penned by Shuai three months ago, in which she described her rape by Communist Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.

The 36-year-old athlete’s words were quickly scrubbed from mainland China’s tightly-controlled internet, but you can still read them here.

Shuai disappeared — or was caused to disappear — almost immediately.

What Shuai had originally to say included this heartbreaking account:

About three years ago, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, you retired. You contacted Dr. Liu from the Tianjin Tennis Center and asked me to play tennis at the Kangming Building in Beijing. After playing in the morning, you and your wife Kang Jie took me to your house. Then you took me into your room, and just like when we were in Tianjin more than ten years ago, you wanted to have sex with me. I was very scared that afternoon. I didn’t expect it to be like this, with someone standing outside the door guarding. I couldn’t believe that your wife was ok with this. We had sex seven years ago, and then you were promoted to the Standing Committee, went to Beijing, and never contacted me again. I originally buried everything in my heart. Since you were not going to take responsibility for our relationship, why did you come back to me, take me to your house and force me to have sex with you?

Now, with the cameras rolling and a Party official keeping a close eye on her, Shuai claims, “I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault.”

According to the AP, L’Equipe was required by CCP authorities to publish Shuai’s answers verbatim, the paper’s questions had to be submitted in advance, and no “sustained follow-ups” were allowed.

In other words: This wasn’t an interview, it was Communist Chinese propaganda forced out of the mouth of a woman who claims to have been raped by a Communist Chinese official.

I guess back in November that Shuai must have thought the Communists were done abusing her.

That this is being done during the publicity generated by the Beijing Olympics is just one more reason that free countries should have boycotted the Games — and why regimes like mainland China should never be allowed to host the games.

We’ve been allowing authoritarians and totalitarians these kinds of propaganda coups since 1936, and it’s got to stop.