‘Peng Is Not Free’: How The Olympics’ Leaders Are Endangering Chinese Tennis Star Peng Shuai

At every development of international criticism, Peng Shuai has either magically appeared or someone has provided something claiming to be from her to counter such criticism.

The below open letter was written to the International Olympic Committee’s leaders and originally published here on Dec. 2. The emphasis in the letter is original. It is republished here in full.

Dear IOC, President Bach, Chair Terho,

With the NGO Safeguard Defenders, I have been paying very close attention to the worrying situation of Peng Shuai in the People’s Republic of China. Peng has been disappeared, at least temporarily, only to appear in a series of ever-stranger and rather obviously staged appearances. This practice is eerily similar to a recurrent CCP tactic of stage-managed (TV) appearances, where victims are paraded and forced to perform by the police, often in an effort to counter international criticism.

While you may not have been fully aware of this practice at the outset of Peng’s disappearance, the behaviour of the IOC has taken a serious turn for the worse following your December 2 press release on a second closed-door video-call with Peng.

Contrary to your latest statements, the actions of the IOC are directly putting Peng at greater risk. If this continued error is indeed due to ignorance, this open letter will at least be one step to remedy such lack of knowledge, information, and understanding.

The practice of stage-managed appearances is most often referred to as forced televised confessions, though recently PRC police will more often resort to posting such videos on their social media channels or have newspapers carry them on their websites. In every scenario, the purpose remains the same: to either attack the person her- or himself, or to counter international criticism.

Safeguard Defenders is without a doubt among the world’s premier authorities on the PRC’s practice of forced TV confessions and the system for disappearances often employed to “prepare” the victims for their “performance” (RSDL — Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location). We therefore feel it is our duty to address some of the issues related to Peng’s situation and the IOC’s actions. As I have personally been through both of these experiences — disappearance in RSDL and subsequently forced into a scripted, stage-managed, public appearance — strengthens me in my belief I should write you this letter.

Peng is not free. You know — or should know — that she is not free. You have seen the initial letter claiming to be from her — where she retracts the allegations of rape against former high-level CCP cadre and State leader Zhang Gaoli. If she is not under control by the police, why in the world would she do that? Her first “re-appearances” in a restaurant and claimed meetings with friends have been dissected and shown to be ludicrous at best.

At every development of international criticism, like clockwork, Peng has either magically appeared or someone has provided something claiming to be from her to counter such criticism.

As said, at the outset, doing the bidding of the Chinese State and Police might have been forgivable due to lack of awareness, as with your first publicized video call. However, the following and widespread criticism of your actions means there is simply no way that you are not aware of how wrong your actions were. Yet now you have engaged in...

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