SCMP Columnist Savages Beijing Censors For Bungling Peng's Case

Chinese bureaucrats’ propensity to cover up and their foolish decision to protect the retired ex-vice-premier Zhang Gaoli have turned the scandal over the tennis star Peng Shuai into an international incident, columnist, and former SCMP editor Wang Xiangwei said.

Photo Insert: Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai in action

The high-handed, top-down approach of censorship and coercion, which works so well at home, is futile on the world stage. It has only given ammunition to those calling for a boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, he added.

The censors have turned the scandal into a major international incident, hurting China’s reputation and credibility and raising concerns over human rights, censorship, and coercive government behavior in the country.

“At first glance, their disregard for common sense beggars belief but a deeper look shows that their bungled responses were inevitable, and they are most unlikely to learn any useful lesson from this major international embarrassment. It is not hard to imagine that if Peng were not an internationally known player and if there were no international pressure led by the international Women’s Tennis Association, the Chinese officials would have succeeded in sweeping the scandal under the rug… But Peng was one of China’s best known tennis stars, once ranked world number one in women’s doubles for 20 weeks in 2014. She won the doubles titles in Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014,” Wang stressed.

“Zhang may not be well known outside China, but he once sat on the CCP’s all-powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), the country’s highest ruling council, for five years before he retired from that post in 2017 and his government post in 2018. Since President Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, he has strengthened ideological controls, including stressing family values. Officials publicly exposed as having extramarital affairs are subject to party disciplinary actions and can face demotions or criminal charges. But the current and former PSC members, along with their close relatives, are considered beyond reproach unless they were toppled in power struggles or involved in major corruption scandals – with a major example being the arrest and jailing of Zhou Yongkang, a former PSC member. According to the protocols, Zhang may have retired but he still enjoys the treatment and privileges of an incumbent PSC member, which means he is untouchable,” Wang rued.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic