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[China Watch]Zhang Gaoli’s sex scandal disrupts Beijing’s plans | Peng Shuai | Beijing Winter Olympics | Bach

[Epoch Times November 27, 2021](Reported by Epoch Times reporters Ning Haizhong and Yi Ru) Now there are less than 100 days before the Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing in February 2022. This sports meeting is an opportunity for the CCP to try to show off the image of the party, but the sex scandal about former deputy prime minister Zhang Gaoli seems to be disrupting its plans.

Peng Shuai, a 35-year-old Chinese tennis player, posted a Weibo post in early November that clearly stated that the 75-year-old Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex. Peng Shuai’s Weibo post was deleted 20 minutes later, and she herself lost contact with the outside world. This has aroused the continuous follow-up and concern of the international community. The incident set off a new round of boycotts against the Beijing Winter Olympics. Amid the anger of international public opinion, the CCP officials were forced to gradually “show up” Peng Shuai, but there were many doubts.

Zhang Gaoli has not appeared in public or expressed his position so far, and concerns about his close relationship with the Beijing Winter Olympics have also begun to attract attention.

Zhang Gaoli’s Winter Olympics

An old photo of Zhang Gaoli and IOC President Thomas Bach was posted on social media recently.

According to a report on the English website of the Chinese Communist government, when Bach visited Beijing in 2016, Zhang Gaoli, the then deputy prime minister and leader of the Beijing Winter Olympics Work Leading Group, gave Bach a “brilliant remark”. Zhang Gaoli told Bach at the time that he would “ensure that the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be extraordinary.”

A photo of IOC President Thomas Bach shaking hands with Zhang Gaoli when he visited Beijing in 2016 was recently posted on social media. (Screenshot of Chinese government website)

A report published three years ago by the Chinese Communist Party Xinhuanet also stated that on February 27, 2018, Zhang Gaoli, the then Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the 24th Winter Olympics Work Leading Group, claimed in a speech that he would “realize the Beijing Winter Olympics.” There will be brilliant competitions in the competition.”

This should be Zhang Gaoli’s last speech on the work of the Beijing Winter Olympics before retiring. Zhang Gaoli stepped down as a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017, and stepped down as a deputy prime minister at the National People’s Congress in March 2018.

Zhang Gaoli in Peng Shuai’s works: “If you want to play, don’t let it go.”

The famous tennis player Peng Shuai wrote in his Weibo text on November 2, 2021: “About three years ago, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, you retired. You can contact Dr. Liu from the Tianjin Tennis Center and then contact me and ask me to play in Beijing. Kang Ming Building.”

Cai Xia, a retired professor of the Central Party School, revealed on Twitter: “A north-south road on the south of Ping An Avenue in Beijing’s Second Ring Road near the Kangming Building is the activity center for retired officials of the State Council.”

Peng Shuai wrote that three years ago, “After playing in the morning, you and your wife Kang Jie took me to your house.” Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex at home. She also mentioned that the situation was the same as more than ten years ago, when Zhang Gaoli was the secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee.

It is unbelievable that when Zhang Gaoli did this, his wife Kang Jie was left alone to help. Peng Shuai continued to write that he had also had sex seven years ago, and he told her that his political position prevented him from divorcing his wife. Afterwards, Zhang Gaosheng, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, went to Beijing and never contacted Peng Shuai.

Peng Shuai said on Weibo that after this forced sex three years ago, she and Zhang Gaoli regained their relationship.

But Zhang Gaoli insisted that Peng Shuai must keep it secret and warned her not to tell anyone, including her mother. This may be in line with Zhang Gaoli, who seems to be meticulous in every word and deed.

Peng Shuai “feels like a walking dead.” In the end, Zhang Gaoli, like he did seven years ago, “have fun and don’t want it”. There was a quarrel between them…

The deputy prime minister who carried the sedan chair for Jiang Zemin

The Epoch Times reporter discovered that a special article by the Xinhua News Agency of the Communist Party of China in the early years touted Zhang Gaoli as “for the people, pragmatic, and clean.”

According to the official text, Zhang Gaoli was born in a fishing village in Fujian, and his father died when he was less than 3 years old. In August 1970, after graduating from university, Zhang Gaoli was assigned to the Maoming Petroleum Company, a central enterprise, as a lifting porter. “He has to carry cement almost every day.” But he was promoted to the management of the company within a few years, and then moved into politics.

Public information shows that Zhang Gaoli transferred the secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee in 1997. In February 2000, the then party leader Jiang Zemin visited Guangdong and delivered the so-called “three represents” speech in Maoming, where Zhang Gaoli once worked. In 2001, Zhang Ji was transferred to the governor of Shandong.

In 2006, because Jiang Zemin, who had abdicated, wanted to ascend Mount Tai, Zhang Gaoli, then Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, ordered Mount Tai to “close the mountain for two days” regardless of the May 1st holiday, and asked the local officials to “welcome” the mountain in a special eight-person sedan chair. Lifting the river up the mountain, I followed closely behind.

In March 2007, Zhang Gaoli was transferred as secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and became a member of the Politburo. He was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2012, left Tianjin, and was appointed Deputy Prime Minister at the 2013 Chinese Communist Party Congress.

In 2015, Zhang Gaoli began to take charge of the preparatory work for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as the leader of the leading group.

Zhang Gaoli, who was born as a commoner, gradually flourished and made her family a member of the CCP’s emerging powerful family. In the “Panama Documents” exposed in April 2016, Zhang Gaoli’s son-in-law Li Shengpo was revealed to have three offshore companies and a Hong Kong identity card.

Scholar: Xi Jinping is in a dilemma in handling Zhang Gaoli incident

As Beijing is preparing to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Peng Shuai incident will stimulate the voice of boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics on the grounds of human rights issues.

President Biden said recently that the United States is considering a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. If you decide to boycott, there will be no American officials attending the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. The British and Australian governments are also considering a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Under international pressure, especially to prevent the Beijing Winter Olympics from being affected, how will Xi Jinping’s authorities ultimately deal with Zhang Gaoli?

Li Youtan, a professor at the National Development Research Institute of National Chengchi University, Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on November 26 that Xi Jinping is now in a dilemma. The situation of the Communist Party of China is repeated; then if he does not deal with it, this matter involves international support, and the CCP’s (negative) image has once again been highlighted.”

He said that even if the Games follow suit, countries will boycott the CCP diplomatically, some countries may not participate, and athletes from some countries may unexpectedly protest against the CCP in various ways.

“A tennis champion with international attention has been subjected to such an unfair treatment, or sexual assault. They may protest in various ways, including Hong Kong’s freedom has been suppressed by the National Security Law, and Xinjiang’s issues have not been resolved. Tibet is now constantly exploding. Many companies have been suppressed. Based on their image, many companies may not dare to sponsor vigorously.”

He believes that if sports-loving people all over the world require leaders of all free countries not to participate, and companies cannot sponsor the Olympics, “the CCP will definitely be disgraced if this Olympics is going to be held.”

Li Youtan said that Zhang Gaoli was not the second generation of Hongkong himself. He grew up in a rural area, and he eventually entered the top CCP. “So when something happens, he will be easily pushed out and beheaded,” but there are also Jiang faction behind Zhang Gaoli.

Li Youtan said whether Zhang Gaoli will be sacrificed or not depends on the current internal struggle of the CCP. If anti-Xi forces gather, it will also make Xi Jinping’s handling of Zhang Gaoli a dilemma.

Regarding the Peng Shuai incident, the CCP blocked the domestic Internet. No one in China can talk about it freely. In response to the Peng Shuai incident, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of the Chinese Communist Party’s official media, and others have sent out pictures and videos of Peng Shuai’s appearance from time to time, but they have been questioned. Under the arrangements of the Chinese Communist Party, on November 21st, Olympic Committee Chairman Bach and Peng Shuai made a video call and claimed that she was “all well.”

However, the international community did not buy into the fact that Peng Shuai was “showed up.”

Li Youtan said that the CCP has been opaque for a long time, and this authoritarian regime has essentially no credibility at all.

He said that the President of the International Olympic Committee and Peng Shuai were on the phone because Zhang Gaoli and the President of the Olympic Committee were very familiar with each other for a long time, and everyone did not believe that it was true. Just like how the epidemic in China happened, people still don’t believe how many people have died.

He believes that the Peng Shuai incident may be a very important event that led to the collapse of the CCP’s centralized autocracy.

Li Youtan said that the nature of the Chinese Communist Party and the nationwide system itself are destroying the spirit of the Olympics, “that is, destroying the spirit of openness, transparency, freedom, and openness emphasized by the Olympics. So everyone should review it carefully.”

It is worth noting that when the doubts between Peng Shuai and Bach Video have not been clarified, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on the 26th that Ding Li, who claimed to be Peng Shuai’s friend, announced an email purporting to be Peng Shuai, accusing the International Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) of ignoring Peng Shuai’s post. Peng Shuai’s reply showed that “there is no problem of sexual assault.”

Ding Li also claimed through e-mail that Peng Shuai had “freedom of movement” in his home in Beijing, but he did not respond to why Peng Shuai did not personally speak out from social media.

Ding Li did not mention Peng Shuai’s Weibo post in early November that Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex.

CCP dare not mention Zhang Gaoli, mainland media person: Peng Shuai needs international attention

On November 23, the spokesperson of the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian, publicly responded to the Peng Shuai incident for the first time at a regular press conference. He claimed that the Peng Shuai incident should not be “politicized” and hoped that “some people would stop malicious hype about it.” However, Zhao Lijian did not mention Zhang Gaoli, another protagonist of the incident.

This is the latest official response from the Chinese Communist Party, and it has been evaded by “never heard of it” and “not a diplomatic issue.”

The mainland media person Jinqiu told The Epoch Times that this incident may not be over. Although we believe it to be true, the CCP officially does not recognize it, and there is no way for outsiders to investigate.

He believes that the outcome of the incident “depends on whether the Xi authorities want to investigate. Once the investigation is conducted, there must be problems.” It also depends on the relationship between Xi and Zhang Gaoli. “It must be the ugliness of the family that cannot be publicized. Only internal compensation is made to Peng Shuai. This possibility accounts for 95%.”

Regarding international concerns, Golden Autumn believes that Zhang Gaoli is the leader of the Beijing Winter Olympics working group. A lot of the CCP’s funds are spent on public relations with international organizations. Therefore, the heads of these international organizations, the WHO and the International Olympic Committee, They were all bought with money. As for foreign boycotts of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the golden autumn is not optimistic.

However, he believes that if there is no international attention, Peng Shuai’s fate is very tragic. It doesn’t seem to be a problem now, but it is possible to retaliate against her in the long run.

Some political analysts believe that Peng Shuai’s initial Weibo post involves high-level power struggles, but Golden Autumn believes that it may not necessarily involve factional struggles. It may be Peng Shuai’s own personal behavior. Women will do this when they are hurt. He described the anti-corruption phenomenon as many mistresses in China.

postscript

Like the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party hope that the Olympics will become a showcase of the Communist Party’s so-called achievements. But it is undeniable that the Peng Shuai incident made the Winter Olympics unexpectedly become a booth to showcase the CCP’s internal corruption, fornication, and infighting.

Editor in charge: Sun Yun#

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