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China's Foreign Ministry 'not aware' of situation of tennis player Peng Shuai
- bkishan 5y agoIt is a good thing that Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are speaking up. The WTA has also shown impressive courage in dealing with the matter.
- zibzab 5y agoYeah, kinda like the NBA but the opposite.
- e40 5y agoExcept for Enes Kanter, but 100% agree.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoYeah, imagine being a billionaire and being afraid to speak out because you would lose millions…
- hker 5y agoI think LeBron James and John Cena come close.
- mc32 5y agoI am really encouraged by this. An organization as well as individual players risking millions on principle, which is very much unlike the NBA and even Apple Inc.
- htk 5y agoI was also very impressed with WTA. So much to lose financially and they not only didn’t stay silent, but also took a hard stance.
- hker 5y agoUnlike the WTA, ironically the IOC is silent, given that Zhang Gaoli (the ex-Vice Premier accused by Peng Shuai) has been working with the IOC and overseeing the preparation of the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic for years [1]. [1]: https://olympics.com/en/news/beijing-2022-unveils-official-emblems https://olympics.com/en/news/beijing-2022-unveils-official-e...
- echelon 5y agoEvery person deserves the freedom to criticize their leaders and to speak out against abuse without fear of reprisal. This is a shame.
- chrischen 5y agoDang, tell that to Edward Snowden.
- gentleman11 5y agoLong list of people here saying Snowden deserves to rot in jail for revealing a massive, illegal domestic spy program. Even with his documents, no citizen has been able to challenge this in court because of secrecy rules. There’s no such thing as a whistleblower without evidence, that’s called a parish who gets ignored. Are you all also in favour of prosecuting the journalists who publish this material?
- throwaway19937 5y ago> Long list of people here saying Snowden deserves to rot in jail for revealing a massive, illegal domestic spy program. Even with his documents, no citizen has been able to challenge this in court because of secrecy rules. There’s no such thing as a whistleblower without evidence, that’s called a parish who gets ignored. I'm in favor of prosecuting Snowden because he did substantial and potentially permanent damage to our intelligence gathering abroad. > There’s no such thing as a whistleblower without evidence, that’s called a parish who gets ignored. He could have gathered information, contacted appropriate members of the Senate, and launched an investigation such as the Church committee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee). > Are you all also in favour of prosecuting the journalists who publish this material? That depends on what they publish and whether it's determined to be illegal. Hopefully the courts would allow publication as in the Pentagon Papers case (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers#The_Supreme_Court_allows_further_publication https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers#The_Supreme_Co...).
- whatever1 5y ago
- throw8932894 5y agoWhy should government even comment on this? Accusations on social media are private matter, this crime was not even reported to police.
- poorjohnmacafee 5y agoIn CCP land you don't report to the police crimes of top CCP officials. I'm sure they won't comment, but it's a major scandal involving the "vice president" equivalent in the CCP, I think any other administration anywhere would comment.
- saghm 5y agoI mean, if the worry is that the government disappeared her, the police would at best not be much help and at worst be the ones who kidnapped her in the first place. The police saying it wasn't reported doesn't necessarily mean that's true, and even if it is, it doesn't necessarily mean much.
- zht 5y agobecause the person making the accusation has been missing?
- chrischen 5y agoFor things like this publicity is the only weapon.
- olliej 5y agoIndeed, why should the government comment on the disappearance of a public figure just after they stated that they were sexually assaulted by a major figure in that government? What possible reason could there be?
- xdennis 5y ago> this crime was not even reported to police Maybe she would have, but it's difficult to report something when you've been disappeared.
- 5y ago
- crate_barre 5y agoDoes it have to be the CCP that disappeared her? China still has all the hallmarks of a third-world country with things like corruption, and certainly life is just as cheap as a place like Russia. Interested parties could have just had her off’d, no ccp needed. Say what you want about America, but we don’t ‘off’ our #metoo people. I’m actually laughing in a sad way at how humans literally have an ‘off’ button in these other countries that these societies just flick. There really is another version of cancel-culture out there. > The 35-year-old former top-ranked player in women's doubles won titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014. Peng also participated in three Olympics ^^ That person had an off button in China, unbelievable. I grow disillusioned by the moment.
- mshockwave 5y agoit's absolutely possible and, unfortunately, not surprised CCP would do that.
- crate_barre 5y agoFrom the wiki, looks like they are holding her: On 17 November, Chinese state media outlet China Global Television Network released an email allegedly written by Peng to chief executive of WTA Steve Simon, which stated that she was resting at home and that her allegation of sexual assault was not true, and that she was not missing. The email also criticized the WTA for releasing what it claimed was unverified information about Peng without her consent. The authenticity of the email was cast in doubt with many pointing out that a typing cursor appears to be visible on the screenshot of the email. Responding in regard to the email, Simon stated that it only raised his concerns as to her safety and whereabouts. He reiterated that Peng's sexual assault allegation must be investigated "with full transparency and without censorship". CCP is insane.
- NalNezumi 5y agoAbsolutely horrifying how people can just "off" there, like a button. Unlike in the USA, where a high profile, human trafficker with connection to former presidents and billionaires, mysteriously "popped off" in the daylight by surveillance cameras "unfortunately" malfunctioning and guards mysteriously not in their place. Or some other guy, was he called Edward? That revealed that the government itself was breaking its own laws, sneaking and policing innocent citizen. Something proven even later by investigations by the government itself! and he still had to flee the country and can't come back! And 330 Million people, without fear of censorship or anything just "meh"ed it off Gee CCP have to step up their "off" game, truly horrifying that they still have to employ censorship and fear to do it!
- powerapple 5y agoAs a Chinese I expect this: Peng Shuai is safe; Zhang is probably in investigation; investigation probably will last some time; Zhang is most likely over, if investigation finds evidence for anything else, he most likely will go to jail.
- xdennis 5y agoWhy do you expect her to be safe if she's not communicating?
- yumraj 5y agoIn CCP China, safe is probably a euphemism for being alive while in house arrest or prison.
- powerapple 5y agoI don't think she would be under arrest. She is probably kept safe or was told to remain silent before the investigation is done. I know it is so kind of backward way of handling the issue. The case would be postponed by the general CCP meeting, and investigation only starts afterwards. She would be questioned maybe, but I am fairly certain she will not face any danger. She may be asked not to give any comment given the investigation. And investigation normally would take some time.
- arvigeus 5y agoShe is probably in custody. I am very anti-CCP, but I don’t believe they are that plain evil (or stupid) to simply kill someone - mafia style. Especially someone with such high profile. Look at what happened to Jack Ma - he was also “disappeared”, but he showed couple of times since. Such a flamboyant persona like him to turn into a “monk” in just couple of months shows that CCP knows how to shut people up without harming them. When they release her she will also be put on a short leash and try staying lower than grass.
- phd514 5y ago
- reunification 5y agoI grew up in China. As someone who has personal experience of growing up there, I would really like foreigners and foreign countries to stop concern trolling and telling us what to do. This is no longer the 19th century and white men no longer own Asia. Chinese values are different from Western values and I expect people on the other side of the world to respect and understand that. One of our most important values is internal stability, and the Peng Shuai situation reflects that.
- throwaway02465 5y agoLooks like finding abuse by a powerful man acceptable in the name of internal stability isn't part of Peng Shuai's values.
- inglor_cz 5y agoLet me tell you as a white man that does not own anything but his laptop and a few clothes: crushing individuals in the name of Greater Good always backfired on us and it will backfire on you, too. I am not even sure if we learnt this lesson yet here in the West - power is corrosive to human rights - but your answers seems to be radically rejecting its validity altogether. Several empires disintegrated after treating their own people badly.
- kleton 5y agoThe Chinese civilization has at least 2000 (the commonly given 5000 is way too generous) years of experience with statecraft. I think at this point they know what will or will not backfire on them.
- inglor_cz 5y agoSo does the Western civilization, our roots are in deep Antiquity and a lot of Greek philosophy and Roman law still forms a base of our contemporary institutions. But we still repeated the same mistakes on different occasions. It often happens that when someone gets all the power, he (usually he) deems himself better at statecraft than those backward ancestors.
- Romanulus 5y agoThis was touched on here (China Uncensored): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuFayKQ3CTA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuFayKQ3CTA
- fodmap 5y agoThis kind of situation is sadly usual in China and the World tends to turn a blind eye, like with the 'Uyghurs situation' so I hope WTA keeps the pressure. Coincidentally I'm reading Red Roulette by Desmond Shum. His wife is in a similar state than Peng Shuai.
- sudosysgen 5y agoThis kind of situation is usual full stop. In the vast majority of the world if you threaten the carreers of very powerful people, very bad things may happen to you.
- outside1234 5y agoI'm sure she is "safely" in tiny pieces somewhere.
- dang 5y agoPlease don't do this here.
- Akwi 5y agoI dont understand how with 1.4 billion people there is absolutely no sign of opposition. Whats the lower bound on how many people you have jail or kill to domesticate the whole herd? It has to be an insanely large number.
- Aperocky 5y agoWelcome to the eastern concept of "Mandate of Heaven"
- brokencode 5y agoChina has a massive surveillance apparatus. If opposition is visible to us, it’s visible to the Chinese government and can be snuffed out. It’s possible that many people there disagree with the government’s actions, though.
- jpgvm 5y agoIt's a very Western thing to assume that Chinese don't like their government or the actions they take. I would say overall their approval rating is pretty high. I haven't been back to China since the pandemic started though so things may have changed some but I don't think a whole lot. I think if you speak to some mainlanders you will come to realise they consider their government to simply be a different set of tradeoffs vs what is common in the West. Specifically favouring stability and social unity at the cost of individual freedom of expression, most consider it to be a reasonable sacrifice to achieve great things on a large scale. Similar views are commonly held here in Thailand too but less so by the younger generation. It's not my cup of tea but I have long since stopped assuming they are oppressed or have an issue with how things are being done.
- hahan_may 5y agothis is so not true. it's not that majority Chinese people don't like their government. They hate it. But I get it how you come to that. The chinese people you come across are by the chinese standard rich, super rich and hyper rich. Although to you they may seem just middle class ish. They are winners of the chinese game, large in number but still quite smaller in proportion to the chinese population. They are the people who benefit from and enjoy the servitude suffered by other Chinese people. If you're a governmental official or tech manager in a big Chinese city, you make money as on par with your counterpart in U.S. or even higher while enjoying 15 mins food delivery to your doorstep at cost of less than 1 U.S. dollar. Why is this possible? because local economy is destroyed in China and if you want to survive you have to go big cities accepting whatever meagerly paid job you could find. There is plenty of land you say. How about being a farmer? No, crop prices are mandated by state and selling to anyone else other than the state is a crime. So, suppose you are the "middle-class" people in China, how could you not love Chinese government? Chinese government creates so many slaves at your service. In the same light, how could any American people not love Chinese government? You enjoy super cheap stuff thanks to the Chinese slaves. Well Chinese people who are de-facto slaves in the country and who are the majority, would they love their government? Yes. Chinese people are different. They think differently. They have a different culture. They love hellish living conditions and working 12hrs day 30 days a month for something like 500-700 usd wihtout any benefit and security whatsoever while watching their government officials and government affiliated people splashing their wealth on a world stage and feel happy. Sophisticated experts on China like you tell us so. I got tons of downvotes for a china comment a year ago. I'd love to see the crowd here to downvote me again by something like, lets say China is evil, but the whole world (especially U.S.) is just as evil. Here are examples, see? So China does not do anything wrong. You are are spreading false information and hatred. Justice will not be done if you are not muted(downvoted)
- olliej 5y agoThis just in: kidnapper has no knowledge of whereabouts of kidnapped person
- outside1234 5y agoThe web3 we need is the ability of folks in China to criticize their government without censorship
- sangnoir 5y agoI'd give the odds of that to be in the same ballpark as a 3-Letter-Agency-resistant communications platform.
- ngcc_hk 5y agoIt is not they can’t speak but the consequences. Need the keyword protection. Or Liberty. Look at Hong Kong just 30k police plus one law, you can transform a liberal state to a silent whisper world. It is free to criticise gov. And there is not much if any news on her.
- simonblack 5y agoI see this as a media beat-up, similar to the "Kim Jong Un killed his uncle with a cannon ..... oops, no. There is is." Like most people in the midst of a media storm, the two ex-lovers will keep their heads down and go quiet till the storm blows over.
- dillondoyle 5y agoWOW. I can't not believe this is a comment on hacker news. Really. You're saying a women's report of rape === ex-lovers on the run eloping? That's fucked and disgusting.
- yakorevivan 5y agoCCP is just a big mafia gang now. And XI Jinping the head of this mafia gang. And as with any mafia gang grown too big, it should be destroyed. And the head of it be killed or sentenced to life-long prison. And yea the IOC... shame on them. They have now found a new term for their silence on this. They call it "Quiet Democracy". When in reality what it is is licking CCP's ass. I don't understand.... why the world not get together and just destroy CCP and kill Xi jinping once and for all? It has already crossed all limits of forgiveness.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoMaybe I’m stuck with the curse of knowledge, but I just can’t imagine the mindset of having to blindly and blatantly lie to the public and the press. It must be out of fear of retaliation if the power structure is offended, but I just have a hard time wrapping my mind around it.