MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 21: Shuai Peng of China plays a backhand during her Women’s Singles first round match against Nao Hibino of Japan on day two of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
New footage of ‘missing’ Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai emerges
A reporter for the state-owned Global Times tweeted a video of Peng Shuai appearing to speak with Chinese basketball icon Yao Ming.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 21: Shuai Peng of China plays a backhand during her Women’s Singles first round match against Nao Hibino of Japan on day two of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 21, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Fresh unverified footage of Peng Shuai was posted online by a state-affiliated journalist on Sunday.
This new footage has done little to assuage international concern for Peng after she publicly accused a former vice-premier of forcing her to have sex.
New footage of ‘missing’ Peng Shuai emerges
A reporter for the state-owned Global Times tweeted a video of Peng appearing to speak with Chinese basketball icon Yao Ming.
Qingqing Chen claims the video was sent to her by a “friend” and that it was taken at an event to promote cross-country skiing in Shanghai.
The seven-second clip shows Peng smiling and listening as Yao speaks indistinctly.
The reporter also posted a photo of Peng posing with Yao and two other Chinese sports figures — Olympic sailing champion Xu Lijia and retired table tennis player Wang Liqin.
The athletes were pictured standing next to a banner for the “FIS Cross-Country Skiing China City Tour” with Shanghai’s Yangpu bridge in the background.
The Shanghai leg of the cross-country ski tour took place on Saturday, according to the state-run CGTN news site.
Access to Twitter and selected social media is blocked in China and only people with a VPN-type workaround can access it.
However, many Chinese diplomats and official state media have accounts usually used to defend China’s point of view to the outside world rather than communicate with its people.
Peng, a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion, took to Chinese social media in early November to allege that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli — who is in his 70s — forced her into sex during an on-off relationship spanning several years.
Her message was quickly scrubbed from the Chinese web, but not before screenshots were posted on Twitter, sparking a worldwide outcry.
The Women’s Tennis Association has called for Peng’s allegations to be investigated fully and transparently.
The sporting body announced earlier this month that it was suspending all tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, over concerns about Peng’s safety.
State media have previously published other images of Peng at a Beijing tennis tournament as well as a screenshot of an email allegedly written by the player saying “everything is fine”.
Peng also participated in late November in a 30-minute video call with Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee.
But the WTA and fellow tennis players have continued to call for more transparency from Beijing over Peng’s whereabouts.
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