{"id":225399,"date":"2022-02-09T14:23:29","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T08:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=225399"},"modified":"2022-02-19T15:54:48","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T10:24:48","slug":"why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kumar David<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Prof. Kumar David<\/p><\/div>\n

Why the Chinese Government involved itself in the scandal regarding sexual assault made by tennis star Peng Shuai against Zhang Gaoli, a retired deputy PM, is incomprehensible. She accused Zhang, Politburo Standing Committee member of the Communist Party of having pressured her into sex. Peng, a professional tennis player was ranked world No. 1 in doubles by the WTA in 2014, the first Chinese to achieve this ranking, and previously peaked at No. 14 in the singles rankings in 2011. The poor woman didn\u2019t know what was going to hit her when on 2 November 2021, she posted a lengthy message on her verified Weibo account in which she accused Zhang having forced her into sex three years previously. The message was quickly deleted but the full Chinese text and an English translation, as well as a time line of events, is available here<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Details are not important but the punch line, abbreviated, is this: \u201cI can\u2019t say it clearly and it\u2019s useless to say it. I admit I\u2019m not good, I\u2019m a bad girl. About three years ago, (you) Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (contacted me to play tennis). Afterwards you and your wife Kang Jie took me to your home, you took me to your room and like what happened in Tianjin ten years ago you wanted to have sex with me. (I disagreed but still carrying feelings from our past affair, I gave in)\u201d. The extramarital affair was rekindled but Peng claims to have suffered humiliation from Gaoli\u2019s wife’s constant verbal abuse. The remarks within parentheses are cut-and-chop from parts of the statement. A mass of material is on the web<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Let me now turn to the actual topic of the article which is not about the scandal but about the foolish and unnecessary involvement of state and state media. #Me Too activists, the World Tennis Association, Women’s Tennis Association and Association of Tennis Professionals all called for an investigation. It became high-profile on German, French and Australian TV. While Chinese authorities have charged officials in the past with sexual misconduct, this was the first time a member of the top echelon of the CP has faced public allegations. Very foolishly the state machine swung into action orchestrating a \u201cdisappearance\u201d of Peng for several weeks followed by China Global Television Network\u2019s release of an email allegedly written by Peng that she was \u201cresting at home\u201d. On 20 November, Hu Xijin former editor-in-chief and Party Secretary of the Global Times posted videos showing Peng at a restaurant. Then he framed the matter “as an ideological struggle between China and the West”. By making it a high-profile political issue China has gone bonkers.<\/p>\n

Most laughable, on Sunday (6), Peng declared at a carefully managed interview watched over by minders with French daily L\u2019Equipe <\/em>that \u201cthere has been a huge misunderstanding\u201d about her 2 November 2021 allegations. It does not matter whose side you are on politically but it is obvious that China has made a complete balls-up of the incident and handed its opponents enough firepower to roast it as manipulative, draconian and totalitarian. I say this without implying that the allegations are true or false.<\/p>\n

Why oh why did the state authorities do it? This Zhang Gaoli is not such an important scallywag and there has been no suggestion that he is a crony of President Xi or other important Party leader. China knows that no one outside the country will buy its version, nor will it assuage women\u2019s concerns. The answer is that the purpose of these stout denials and state-media involvement is for domestic audiences. It is to keep up the image of the Party and the Chinese Government in the eyes of the Chinesew people. The Winter Olympics are in full swing, there is a crucial Party Conference later in the year and there is this obsession with not appearing to be like the licentious West. But educated Chinese are not inclined to swallow the line. They would be much happier if there was a formal investigation and if necessary, prosecution.<\/p>\n

This is the point at which it becomes interesting to Sri Lanka. (This is certainly not a diplomatic matter and calls for no response from government). The point is that when a regime becomes authoritarian as in China a common-sense approach to everything goes out of the window. Scandals of this type are ever so common all over the world, actually rather rare in China. There have been numerous allegations and prosecutions in the US; the verdict has gone sometimes this way and sometimes that. We too were some years ago hugely entertained by the hilarious marathon of a fat and ugly Sports Minister huffing and puffing in pursuit of a lady sprint record holder.<\/p>\n

I wonder whether religious big-wigs and women\u2019s organisations in Sri Lanka will be motivated to say something; they should, otherwise they will have no leg to stand on when something similar happens at home. I am no prude and have no horror of consensual merrymaking between hard-up grown-ups. Furthermore, cricket is my game not tennis. The actual problem is when people abuse their positions of power or wealth. The Chinese government has soiled its name in this respect by getting involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":218982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,46,8,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Did China Do Such A Silly Thing? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-09T08:53:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-19T10:24:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"464\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kumar David\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kumar David\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/\",\"name\":\"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing? - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-09T08:53:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-19T10:24:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7a2df4a6a7d5175ea6aaec0979ac92\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":464},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7a2df4a6a7d5175ea6aaec0979ac92\",\"name\":\"Kumar David\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd926fc59526eaa911c5c160b8c7540f42087fc664225d36ea2abfc11cf76770?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd926fc59526eaa911c5c160b8c7540f42087fc664225d36ea2abfc11cf76770?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kumar David\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/kdav\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing? - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing? - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2022-02-09T08:53:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-19T10:24:48+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":464,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kumar David","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kumar David","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/","name":"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing? - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg","datePublished":"2022-02-09T08:53:29+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-19T10:24:48+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7a2df4a6a7d5175ea6aaec0979ac92"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg","width":620,"height":464},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/why-did-china-do-such-a-silly-thing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Did China Do Such A Silly Thing?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d7a2df4a6a7d5175ea6aaec0979ac92","name":"Kumar David","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd926fc59526eaa911c5c160b8c7540f42087fc664225d36ea2abfc11cf76770?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dd926fc59526eaa911c5c160b8c7540f42087fc664225d36ea2abfc11cf76770?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Kumar David"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/kdav\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/chinese-economy.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225399"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225512,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225399\/revisions\/225512"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}