China New Era

A pro-Beijing Singaporean state-controlled news outlet’s brief interview with Peng Shuai has raised more questions than it answered. A reporter for Lianhe Zaobao pulled Peng aside for an ostensibly unscheduled interview along the sidelines of a Shanghai event promoting cross-country skiing. Peng did not deny an assertion that she authored the Weibo post that set the saga in motion, but claimed that she never accused anyone of sexual assault, contradicting the language in her original post. She stated that CGTN’s tweeted screenshot of an English-language email to Women’s Tennis Association CEO Steve Simon was a faithful translation of her original Chinese draft. Peng further stated she has freedom of movement and is not under surveillance, but is not planning to leave China any time soon:

At The New York Times, Chris Buckley reported on Peng’s interview and international skepticism that her comments were made freely:

Ms. Peng made the comments in an interview that was published on Sunday by a Singaporean newspaper. But the retraction appeared unlikely to extinguish concerns about her well-being and suspicions that she had been the target of well-honed pressure techniques and a propaganda campaign by Chinese officials.

[…] After this latest interview, a spokesperson for [the Women’s Tennis Association] said it still had not been able to make independent contact with Ms. Peng. And the association said in a statement, “We remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern.”

[…] There was no mention of Ms. Peng’s latest comments in Chinese state media, which operates inside a wall of censorship. [Source]

To many observers, Peng seemed uncomfortable during the interview, and could not recall the dates of her video-conferences with the International Olympic Committee. She also declined to answer questions about her activities in Beijing. Peng also claimed that her Weibo post, shared with her 574,000 followers, was “a matter of personal privacy.” Peng was accompanied by Ding Li, a man who claims to be her friend and had previously posted multiple videos of her in Beijing. A number of state media employees and Ding posted videos and photographs of Peng in Shanghai:

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