{"id":1078698,"date":"2021-12-02T23:13:45","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T04:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1078698"},"modified":"2021-12-02T23:13:48","modified_gmt":"2021-12-03T04:13:48","slug":"china-world-tennis-associations-support-stripped-peng-shuai-of-freedom-of-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-world-tennis-associations-support-stripped-peng-shuai-of-freedom-of-expression\/","title":{"rendered":"China: World Tennis Association&#039;s Support Stripped Peng Shuai of \u2018Freedom of Expression\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-world-tennis-associations-support-stripped-peng-shuai-of-freedom-of-expression%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1078698&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-171482883-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\"><span>Chinese state media and the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) responded with outrage on Thursday to the international Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) suspending all tournaments in China over the mistreatment of Peng Shuai, the tennis star who accused former Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexually assaulting her a decade ago.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>WTA chair Steve Simon <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2021\/12\/01\/womens-tennis-association-suspends-all-tournaments-china-treatment-peng-shuai\/\"><span>announced<\/span><\/a><span> on Wednesday that all games in China and Hong Kong will be suspended until a \u201cfull and transparent investigation \u2013 without censorship\u201d is conducted into Peng\u2019s allegations.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>\u201cI don\u2019t see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault. Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022,\u201d Simon said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-run <\/span><i><span>Global Times, <\/span><\/i><span>bizarrely <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/globaltimesnews\/status\/1466380369750491150\"><span>argued<\/span><\/a><span> on Thursday that the WTA <\/span><span>deprived <\/span><span>Peng Shuai of her \u201cfreedom of expression\u201d by standing up for her because the tennis association is supposedly \u201cforcing her to complain in accordance with the imagination and expectations of Western public opinion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In other words, Hu was asserting that Peng <\/span><span>wanted<\/span><span> her post accusing Zhang of sexual assault to <\/span><span>magically <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/24\/hong-kong-broadcaster-disappears-report-missing-chinese-tennis-star-peng-shuai\/\"><span>vanish<\/span><\/a><span> from the Chinese Internet hours after she wrote it and she was speaking from the heart when she resurfaced after a mysterious three-week absence to hold an oddly-staged videoconference with International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><span>Steve Simon has been <\/span><span>vocally <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/news\/wta-still-deeply-concerned-over-tennis-star-peng-shuai\/\"><span>skeptical<\/span><\/a><span> of the IOC teleconference and believes two emails he received from Peng during her disappearance were either written under duress or written by someone else and sent in her name. Some other critics of how China has treated Peng, notably including the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/sports\/2021\/11\/30\/eu-wants-verifiable-proof-chinese-tennis-player-is-safe\/\"><span>European Union<\/span><\/a><span>, have also indicated they want \u201cverifiable proof\u201d Peng is safe and able to speak freely.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hu turned these concerns on their head by asserting the WTA, EU, and others concerned about Peng\u2019s well-being are the ones coercing her into a \u201cfabricated\u201d narrative that she has \u201clost her freedom.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) on Thursday \u201cstrongly condemned\u201d the WTA\u2019s suspension of Chinese events.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The CTA expressed \u201cindignation and firm opposition\u201d to the WTA\u2019s action, dismissing its \u201cso-called concerns\u201d about Peng\u2019s well-being.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe unilateral decision by the WTA in the name of \u2018protecting its players\u2019 was made based on fictitious information, the CTA said, noting that it not only beset and hurt the relevant athlete herself, but will also severely harm the female tennis players\u2019 fair opportunities to compete. It will damage the interest of the entire sport of tennis,\u201d reported Hu\u2019s newspaper, the <\/span><i><span>Global Times.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span>The WTA\u2019s bold stand against Chinese Communism might be inspiring other organizations to follow suit. On Thursday, the men\u2019s professional tennis ATP Tour issued a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/atp-statement-2-december-2021\"><span>statement<\/span><\/a><span> cautiously supportive of the WTA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>ATP chair Andrea Gaudenzi expressed optimism that \u201csport can have a positive influence on society\u201d and \u201chaving a global presence gives us the best chance of creating opportunity and making an impact,\u201d which sounds like reassurance his organization does not plan to impose its own boycott. However, Gaudenzi made it clear China has not done enough to address international concerns about Peng.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe situation involving Peng Shuai continues to raise serious concerns within and beyond our sport. The response to those concerns has so far fallen short. We again urge for a line of open direct communication between the player and the WTA in order to establish a clearer picture of her situation,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese state media and the Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) responded with outrage on Thursday to the international Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) suspending all tournaments in China over the mistreatment of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}