Journalist who interviewed Peng Shuai says doubts remain

A French journalist said that concerns still remain about Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s freedom after he spoke with her in her first sit-down interview since alleging sexual assault against a top Chinese official last year.

Marc Ventouillac, a journalist for the French sports newspaper L’Equipe, said Tuesday that the interview that was arranged by Chinese Olympic officials left him with questions concerning Peng’s safety, according to The Associated Press.

“It’s impossible to say,” Ventouillac told the AP when asked if the interview proved that Peng was safe.

He added that he believes the interview was allowed to take place by the government in order to end a controversy that would have overshadowed the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Peng was reported missing last year after she alleged on social media that Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex with him after repeatedly refusing him. At the time of disappearance, several tennis stars including Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic used their platforms to express concerns for the doubles tennis player. 

“It’s a part of communication, propaganda, from the Chinese Olympic Committee,” Ventouillac told the AP. “It’s important, I think, for the Chinese Olympic Committee, for the Communist Party and for many people in China to try to show: ‘No, there is no Peng Shuai affair.’”

Ventouillac told the news outlet that in order to secure the interview, L’Equipe agreed to send questions ahead of time and to publish the responses verbatim. Despite those restrictions, Ventouillac said that the interview went over the allotted half-hour and beyond the roughly 10 questions he originally submitted.

“There was no censorship in the questions,” he said.

“She answered our questions without hesitating — with, I imagine, answers that she knew. She knew what she was going to say,” Ventouillac reportedly added. “But you can’t know whether it was formatted or something. She said what we expected her to say.”

During the Monday interview, Peng said that the allegations she raised had been a “misunderstanding.”

“Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault,” L’Equipe quoted Peng as saying at the time.

“This post resulted in an enormous misunderstanding from the outside world,” she added, referencing the social media post in which she revealed the allegations. “My wish is that the meaning of this post no longer be skewed.”