Tennis star Peng Shuai claims she was abused at Xi rally

China reacts to top player Peng Shuai’s #MeToo claims against Communist Party official, censoring name, blocking her social media.

Chinese tennis player Shuai Peng retires hurt from the US Open women’s singles semi-final this year. Picture: Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

A prominent Chinese tennis player has had her social media account blocked and her name censored overnight after she made allegations of sexual abuse against a former vice-premier who was once the seventh-highest official of the ruling Communist Party.

In a lengthy post on the Chinese social media site Weibo, Peng Shuai, 35, seemed to accuse Zhang Gaoli, 75, of forcing her to have sex before she agreed to be his mistress. The post was removed within 20 minutes and Peng, a former top-ranked doubles player and world No 14, had her account blocked, but not before users had taken a screenshot and shared the comments. Analysts say it is difficult to verify her allegations and she has admitted there is no proof, but it is the first time that a scandal associated with the #MeToo movement has come so close to China’s highest political class.

Previously the country’s #MeToo movement has disgraced professors, public intellectuals and social activists, and exposed the male-dominant corporate culture. It is no secret that many of the country’s corrupt officials have kept illicit relationships and lived “decadently”, as declared by the party’s disciplinary officials; however, Peng’s accusation is the first to expose the alleged sexual misdeeds of a high-level official, who is retired but in good political standing.

Lv Pin, a Chinese activist for women’s rights, tweeted: “Her revelation is very important, for it lets people get a glimpse of the real life of China’s highest leaders, their excessive abuse of power, corruption and their fear behind a moral facade wrapped in power.”

Asked about Peng’s allegations, the Chinese foreign ministry said at a routine briefing that it was not aware of the matter.

Peng is a household name in China. She was ranked the world’s No 1 doubles player by the Women’s Tennis Association in 2014, a first for a Chinese player.

In her post, Peng said that the affair had started more than ten years ago in Tianjin, where Zhang was the party chief.

The Times