Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai disappeared from the public stage in early November after she accused Zhang Gaoli, the former leader of the Communist Party, of sexual assault.
Peng, 35, a two-time doubles Grand Slam champion, accused the police of forcing her to have sex at her home in a social media post that was deleted minutes later.
Zhang Gaoli is from Jinjiang, Fujian province, in the southeast of the country, according to China Vitae.
He was born in 1946, graduated from Xiamen University in 1970 with a degree in planning and statistics from the Department of Economics and, according to the official information from the State Council, joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1973.
Long political career with the Chinese Communist Party.
Zhang Gaoli served on the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Communist Party, the country’s highest governing body, from 2012 to 2017 during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s first term in office. He stepped down as Deputy Prime Minister in 2018.
Zhang held various positions in the Guangdong Provincial Party and Government for about 12 years. He also held various Party leadership positions in Shenzhen. And from 2002 to 2003, he was the governor of Shandong province.
Personal life
According to a 2013 report from the state news agency Xinhua, Zhang’s wife is Kang Jie, who was his colleague when they both worked for the Maoming oil company in Guangdong province.
In addition, the agency reports that he has a son, who at the time was working in the People’s Liberation Army of China after graduating from a military academy.
In a deleted post on social media, Peng accused Zhang of forcing her to have sex and claims that the relationship went on for an intermittent period that lasted at least 10 years.
The publication claims that about three years ago, after Zhang retired, it was he who invited her to play tennis in Beijing. The athlete says that Zhang and his wife took Peng home, where she was forced to have sex with Zhang.
“On that day, I initially disagreed and cried all the time,” Peng wrote. After lunch with Zhang and his wife, after persuasion, she relented, according to the newspaper.
The Chinese authorities have so far refused to publicly acknowledge Peng’s accusations against Zhang.
Some of the sport’s biggest players have asked China to confirm their safety and to investigate their allegations. Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) President and CEO Steve Simon has threatened to leave China unless Peng goes missing and his claims are not properly investigated.
A CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the message.
(Translated text. Click here read original in Spanish)
