Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai is the latest missing high-profile character. He will hardly be last

Powerful billionaires, A-list celebrities and even the head of Interpol have all disappeared from China in recent years.

The latest high-profile victim is one of the country’s biggest sports stars, tennis player Peng Shuai.

Ms. Peng disappeared earlier this month after claiming on social media that Zhang Gaoli, a former member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese Politburo, forced her into sex and that they later had an on-off consensus.

But in an email released this week by China’s global TV network CGTN, which Peng said he sent to Steve Simon, president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), the 35-year-old said he was “not lost and I’m not safe.” .

“I just rested at home and everything is fine,” the email stated.

The email said the allegation of sexual violence was “untrue.”

We have seen similar scenarios played out many times before – a public figure speaking against the Chinese government disappears, a public apology or confession is released, after which they reappear only after fines or conviction.

Since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, there has been little room for disagreement in China, and he has made it clear that No matter how rich, famous or powerful you are, no one is beyond the reach of the authorities.

However, Peng’s case adds extra concern about the silencing of women and the future of the #MeToo movement, which is slowly gaining momentum in China.

Here’s an overview of how disappearances have become the new normal and why the latest case stands out from the crowd.

Processing a lost act

The disappearances can target all types of people, whether they are corrupt authorities, the media, booksellers who distribute critical material to the government, or civic journalists who report on the country’s pandemic activities.

Although the exact number of disappearances is difficult to estimate, Chinese experts say it could be as high as a million people among the Uighur community and minority groups alone.

In taking power, Mr. Xi introduced new laws that largely made arbitrary and secret arrests legal under Chinese law.

Regardless of nationality, these complex laws can be used to remove reserved rights on the grounds of “national security.”

There is speculation about what will happen to people when they disappear.

In the case of a high profile, it may be that they are forced to lie down, while others may be detained under a “residential surveillance in a designated place” system, which disconnects suspects from the outside world.

The location of the residential surveillance system is usually an institution run by the secret police, which may include a person held in solitary confinement and constantly interrogated.

But this form of detention is commonly used for those accused of endangering the security of the state.

Target billionaires and celebrities

The government seems to have set an example in recent years with high-profile figures who disappear after criticizing the Communist Party and then reappear after some time with public punishment.

One of the most prominent victims was Alibaba founder Jack Ma, who disappeared three months after giving a controversial speech in late 2020 in which he blew up China’s regulatory system.

The disappearance of the country, which Forbes had classified as China’s richest person and which many admirably called “Father Max,” attracted a wave of international attention.

Mr. Ma reappeared in a short video at a charity event in January 2021, and shortly after Alibaba was fined $ 2.8 billion ($ 3.8 billion) for anti-competitive behavior and several other violations.

In the past, the outspoken and brilliant character has kept a low profile ever since.

Another well-known businessman, real estate magnate Ren Zhiqiang, reportedly disappeared last year when he called Xi a “clown” while dealing with a coronary virus crisis in China.

He was later sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption.

In 2018, Fan Bingbing, one of China’s best-paid actors appearing in X-Men and Iron Man, disappeared between June and October due to tax evasion allegations.

He later reappeared and published a long statement on social media in which he apologized for his actions and agreed to pay a fine of $ 167 million ($ 230 million).

Celebrities are also “lost” or silenced online.

Billionaire actor and filmmaker Zhao Wei, also known as Vicky Zhao, recently disappeared from many video platforms and his name has been removed from the online casting lists.

The Global Times published a headline days after Zhao was cleaned up, he called him a “scandalous actor” and described in detail various lawsuits concerning his investments, including an early stake in Alibaba Pictures Group, a film company under Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group.

High profile # MeToo sound attenuation

Although high-profile disappearances have become more common, Dr. Pichamon Yeophantong, a political scientist and Chinese expert at UNSW Canberra, said the Peng case stood out from the crowd.

He said it was because although it was a high-level official, it also touched on sexual harassment and gender issues in Chinese society.

“Talking about sexual harassment or sexual violence is not yet part of the culture,” Dr. Yeophantong told ABC.

Xi has recently stepped up efforts to suppress feminist voices in the country.

Terms like “feminism” and “MeToo” are considered sensitive and subject to online censorship, and dozens of feminist accounts have been abruptly shut down on popular social media sites like Weibo and Douban.

Dr. Yeophantong said there has been some growth in grassroots women’s rights movements, but much of it was still constrained by political and traditional culture, and the younger generation complained that “there is still a sense of superficiality there”.

“The fact that such a tennis star is disappearing in a country that truly adores these types of individuals sends a very strong message that more restrictions are being placed on people in the spotlight,” he said.

The country’s #MeToo movement had sped up, and one of the country’s biggest pop idols, Kris Wu, was arrested in August on charges of rape.

The movement was hit in September when a Beijing court ruled that Zhou Xiaoxuan, who became the face of China’s #MeToo movement in 2018, did not have enough evidence in his harassment case against one of China’s most respected TV presenters, Zhua. June

Zhou had accused Zhua of groping and forcibly kissing her in the makeup room while working as a media intern for Chinese CCTV in 2014.

Dr. Yeophantong said that instead of raising fear, Ms. Peng’s case might get more people talking.

“I think this case has the potential to spark a debate on the subject and get more Chinese women involved, because it’s not just a political problem, it’s also a social problem.”