China has called on people to stop \u201chyping\u201d the case of tennis star Peng Shuai, whose disappearance after alleging an affair with a top Communist Party official caused international outcry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope some people stop the deliberate and malicious hype, not to mention politicizing the issue,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, adding that it wasn\u2019t a \u201cdiplomatic issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peng went missing earlier this month after posting a 1,500-character essay on her verified Weibo account recounting a tumultuous relationship with former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. Her post was scrubbed from the internet and attempts by the media and the Women\u2019s Tennis Association to contact her were unsuccessful. <\/p>\n
Zhao declined to answer a question on why Peng\u2019s account had been censored on the internet in China, where her case hasn\u2019t been reported by any media available in the country and international television stations have been knocked off air when they mention the star.<\/p>\n
When asked why previous questions and answers on Peng hadn\u2019t been included in the ministry\u2019s daily briefing transcripts, he said: \u201cThe readout of the regular press conference is not always a word-by-word record of what is being asked and answered. My question for you is, \u2018Do you report every word I say?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After tennis greats including Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic last week joined the growing chorus of international figures demanding to know Peng\u2019s whereabouts, Chinese state media posted a series of videos and pictures of Peng to Twitter over the weekend. The images showed Peng smiling at home, eating out with friends, and at a tennis event in Beijing.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan any girl fake such sunny smile under pressure?\u201d Hu Xijin, editor in chief of the Communist Party-owned tabloid Global Times, wrote on Twitter. His China-facing Weibo account made no reference to Peng, and his newspaper didn\u2019t report her reemergence.<\/p>\n
The International Olympic Committee, which has hundreds of millions dollars at stake in the Beijing Winter Games starting in February, on Sunday vouched for Beijing\u2019s version of events. After a 30-minute video call with Peng Shuai, chair of the Athletes\u2019 Commission Emma Terho said she was \u201cdoing fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
That statement did not satisfy the WTA, which has threatened to pull its business in China, also worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if Peng is not allowed to speak freely. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China has called on people to stop \u201chyping\u201d the case of tennis star Peng Shuai, whose disappearance after alleging an affair with a top Communist Party official caused international outcry. \u201cI hope some people stop the deliberate and malicious hype, not to mention politicizing the issue,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,758,757,756],"class_list":{"0":"post-229019","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-china","9":"tag-hype","10":"tag-malicious","11":"tag-peng-shuai"},"yoast_head":"\n