On November 2nd, Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai accused Zhang Gaoli, former Vice-Premier under Xi Jinping, of sexual assault. She posted her statement on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform with over 246 million daily active users. After mere minutes, the statement was taken down by the platform and scrubbed from its search engines. 

Like her statement, Peng has disappeared from both the internet and the public. After two weeks, her disappearance has raised concerns in the international community for her safety. The Chinese government has tried to assuage their fears by sharing a video stating that Peng is safe and resting at home. 

Peng’s statement detailed her encounters with Zhang, starting from 10 years ago when Zhang was still the party leader of Tianjin, until 2018. It accuses Zhang, who is now 75 years old, of coercing Peng to sleep with him after inviting her to play tennis with him and his wife in 2018. Furthermore, she recounts how the assault affected her mental health. 

Following her disappearance, tennis stars around the world like Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams, and Raphael Nadal have denounced the censorship and expressed their concern for her safety. The Biden Administration is asking the Chinese Government to provide tangible proof of Peng’s well-being ahead of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The Women’s Tennis Association has also suspended all tennis tournaments in both Mainland China and Hong Kong. 

 Additionally, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been criticized for its response to Peng’s situation. The IOC has not listened to human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch’s calls for them to move the Olympics elsewhere due to China’s multiple human rights violations in dealing with human rights defenders, protestors, and investigative journalists, to name a few. They have released public statements stating that they have had two video meetings with Peng and that she seemed safe in both meetings. However, the rest of the international community remains unconvinced, citing the Chinese government’s tendency to parade people under government custody to escape international scrutiny, as seen with citizen journalists Fang Bin, Chen Qiushi, and Li Zehua, who covered the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. 

Along with video meetings with the IOC, another alleged appearance of Peng on video that has the international community even more worried for her was a video posted by China Global Television Network (CGTN). The official news media under the Chinese Communist Party’s publicity department posted a video with a message from Peng on Twitter. However, Peng does not appear in the video; instead, her message is conveyed through a series of cards written in English, thanking everyone for their concern and stating that she is safe. Peng’s true whereabouts still remain unknown.