On Dec. 1, the chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), Steve Simon, announced, “with the full support of the WTA Board of Directors,” the “immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong.” The WTA has a ten-year deal for nine tournaments in China, among them a season-ender in Shenzhen with a purse of $150 million. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is trying to quash the whole issue, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is preferring the use of “quet diplomacy” to help prevent any boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijng, which are due to start next Feb. 4.
The WTA’s move is a reaction to the Chinese government’s treatment of the professional tennis player Peng Shuai, a 35-year-old Chinese national who vanished from public view shortly after leveling an accusation of rape against Zhang Gaoli, a 75-year-old former vice premier of China and member of the Politburo Standing Committee. Peng made the accusation in a post on Weibo, the Chinese microblogging website, through her verified account. She conceded in the long message that she had sex with Zhang once seven years ago and had some emotional attachment for him. Both the post and Peng’s account have reportedly been scrubbed from Weibo.
In a statement posted to the WTA website, Simon writes: “Chinese officials have been provided the opportunity to cease this censorship, verifiably prove that Peng is free and able to speak without interference or intimidation, and investigate the allegation of sexual assault in a full, fair and transparent manner. Unfortunately, the leadership in China has not addressed this very serious issue in any credible way. While we now know where Peng is, I have serious doubts that she is free, safe and not subject to censorship, coercion and intimidation.” He continues: “I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.”
Two former women’s tennis champions have voiced support for the WTA. Billie Jean King said, “I applaud Steve Simon and the WTA leadership for taking a strong stand on defending human rights in China and around the world.” Martina Navratilova tweeted, “This is a brave stance by Steve Simon and the WTA where we put principle above $ and stand up for women everywhere.”
According to the French news service AFP, China has in turn accused the WTA of “politicizing the sport” of tennis. The Guardian cites Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, as saying that his government was “always firmly opposed to acts that politicise sports.” For Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, a state-owned newspaper in China, the WTA is “coercing Peng Shuai to support the west’s attack on the Chinese system” and “depriving Peng Shuai’s freedom of expression, demanding that her description of her current situation must meet their expectation.”
Meanwhile, the China Global Television Network (CGTN), which is controlled by the Chinese communist party, has tweeted an e-mail – purportedly written by Peng and sent to Steve Simon and the WTA – where the tennis champion proclaims that the content of the recent news about herself, posted on the official website of the WTA, ”has not been confirmed or verified by myself and it was released without my consent. The news in that release, including the allegation of sexual assault, is not true. I’m not missing, nor am I unsafe. I’ve just been resting at home and everything is fine. Thank you again for caring about me.”
“If the WTA publishes any more news about me,” she adds, ”please verify it with me, and release it with my consent. As a professional tennis player, I thank you all for your companionship and consideration. I hope to promote Chinese tennis with you all if I have the chance in the future. I hope Chinese tennis will become better and better.”
Simon has reacted to the e-mail in another statement, writing: “I have a hard time believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email we received or believes what is being attributed to her.”
According to The New York Times, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has asked for an investigation but no boycott, and World Athletics, which governs track and field, is keeping its relay championships on schedule for Guangzhou in 2023. World Athletics’ president, the former track athlete Sebastian Coe, is also a member of the IOC, which has released a statement of its own, saying that it is taking a “very human and person-centred approach” to Peng’s predicament, using “quiet diplomacy.” The committee claims to have held two video calls with Peng – on Nov. 21 and Dec. 1 – in which it has pledged “wide-ranging support” and set up a “personal meeting” for January. During the first call, says the IOC, Peng “appeared to be safe and well,” and this was “reconfirmed” during the second one.
