Peter Dutton lashes celebrities’ silence over China’s treatment of Peng Shuai

The outspoken Defence Minister has hit out at Hollywood stars and sport champs for turning a blind eye to China’s human rights abuses.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton has launched an extraordinary spray, shaming global celebrities for failing to speak out on China’s human rights record.

Speaking to Nine newspapers as part of an interview series on Australia’s defence capabilities, Mr Dutton took aim at Hollywood stars and the world’s sporting elite over their silence.

In particular, he criticised celebrities’ reluctance to condemn China’s treatment of tennis star Peng Shuai.

Last November, Ms Peng published a social media post claiming she had been sexually assaulted.

She alleged that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli – who is aged in his 70s – forced her into sex during an on-off relationship spanning several years.

Within minutes, the post had been deleted, and she then vanished for weeks on end, sparking serious concerns for her welfare.

She then re-emerged in December, denying she had been assaulted in a shock interview with news outlet Lianhe Zaobao, in which she claims her original post has been misinterpreted.

“First, I need to stress one point that is extremely important, I have never said or written that anyone has sexually assaulted me. I have to clearly stress this point,” she told the publication.

But despite the mystery surrounding the Peng Shuai case, Mr Dutton insisted household names had a responsibility to speak up.

Peng Shuai claimed she had been sexually assaulted in a quickly deleted social media post in November 2021. Picture: Adrian Dennis/AFP

“I don’t understand how, in the year 2021, in the #MeToo age, we can have an international female tennis star who claims to have been raped and sexually assaulted and she’s now effectively under house arrest and has had her social media account wiped, and somehow that’s behaviour that we should tolerate,” he told Nine newspapers.

“Well, it’s not – and we’re better off to speak publicly about it because otherwise the behaviour won’t change.”

He said he found it “quite remarkable” that more stars hadn’t spoken out, given how widespread the #MeToo movement had been in the West.

His criticism also extended to silence over other human rights abuses, including China’s treatment of the Uigher minority group.

Peter Dutton says he finds the silence ‘quite remarkable’. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Mr Dutton has a strong track record when it comes to vocal criticism of China, having previously declared it would be “inconceivable” Australia would not side with the US to defend Taiwan if a conflict with China arose.

During a National Press Club address in Canberra in November, Mr Dutton warned Beijing was ramping up its military power and engaging in “increasingly alarming activities” and said any conflict with China in the Indo Pacific region would be “catastrophic”.

“If Taiwan is taken, surely the Shenkakus are next,” Mr Dutton said, referring to a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

“Now, that is a not just a perilous military and economic situation for our country, but for so many more.”

His comments sparked outrage in China, with the Chinese embassy in Australia issuing a statement in response, accusing Mr Dutton of “preaching his quixotic misunderstanding of China’s foreign policy”.

– with NSW NewsWire