Who is Zhang Gaoli? The man at the center of tennis player Peng Shuai's accusations

IOC gives encouraging news on Peng Shuai 1:01

Hong Kong (CNN) -

Before retiring as deputy prime minister, Zhang Gaoli was the face of China's organizing efforts ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

As the head of a government task force on the Beijing Games, Zhang inspected the construction sites of the venues, visited the athletes, revealed the official emblems and held meeting after meeting to coordinate preparation work.

He hosted the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, at the leadership complex of the Chinese capital in 2016, and promised to make the Games "fantastic, extraordinary and excellent."

But now, three years after his retirement and less than three months before the Winter Olympics, Zhang has found himself at the center of an explosive #MeToo scandal that has sparked a global uproar, amplifying calls to boycott the Games. that he helped organize.

Zhang, 75, was charged earlier this month by Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, 35, of sexual assault at his home after retiring three years ago.

The two-time Grand Slam doubles champion also alleged a relationship with Zhang during an on-off period that lasted at least a decade.

"Why did you have to come back with me, take me to your house to force me to have sex with you?" Peng alleged in a deleted social media post dated November 2.

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"I know that to someone of your eminence, Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, you said you were not afraid. But even if it's just me, like an egg hitting stone, a moth flying on fire, courting self-destruction, you would tell the truth about us. ", wrote.

Chinese authorities were quick to muffle Peng Shuai with widespread censorship.

But as the weeks passed, the world of women's tennis began to demand answers about Peng's whereabouts, as well as a full investigation into her allegations against Zhang.

Amid growing global concern for his safety and well-being, the Chinese government-controlled media and the state sports system published a series of "proof of life" photos and videos of Peng.

Bach, the IOC president who has been photographed with Zhang on at least one occasion, held a video call with Peng under the close surveillance of a Chinese sports official, during which the three-time Olympian insisted that she is "safe and sound" and she wanted her "privacy to be respected."

But Beijing has avoided any mention of Peng Shuai's sexual assault allegations, with censors blocking all CNN broadcasts of this story in the country.

Meanwhile, Zhang has remained completely out of the public eye and has not issued any response to the accusation.

Since his retirement, Zhang has kept a low profile and faded from public life, and there is no published information regarding his current whereabouts.

CNN's repeated requests for comment to the Information Office of the Chinese State Council, which handles press inquiries on behalf of the central government, have not received a response.

Peng Shuai's disappearance worries the Women's Tennis Association 2:30

Who is Zhang Gaoli?

Former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach in Beijing on June 12, 2016.

While in office, Zhang Gaoli had had a dull and inconspicuous figure, even by Communist Party standards, where senior officials often follow a strict script while on official business and stay out of the limelight in private.

In photos and on state television, he was rarely seen with any expression, and he always sported flawless slicked-back, jet-black hair, a hairstyle traditionally chosen by high-ranking Chinese officials.

According to a 2013 state media profile, Zhang enjoyed tennis, read, and played Chinese chess in his spare time.

"There was nothing extraordinary about him. He is a standard technocrat trained and cultivated by the Chinese Communist Party system," said Deng Yuwen, a former editor of an official party newspaper who now lives in the United States.

"He had no notable achievements, nor was he involved in particular scandals; he had been a nondescript figure without any controversy."

Even after officially becoming one of China's seven most powerful men, Zhang rarely stood out among his colleagues on the ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, where he served alongside President Xi Jinping from 2012 to 2017. .

But his low-key personality belied tremendous power.

As vice premier, he was in charge of aspects of China's economy, its energy sector and the Xi Belt and Road flagship initiative, as well as preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics.

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Zhang Gaoli (left) with the other six members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party inside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 15, 2012.

Unlike Xi, who was born a "prince", the son of communist revolutionary heroes, which gave him inherent status and prestige within the party, Zhang was of modest origin.

Born in 1946 to a farming family in a small coastal town in southeastern Fujian province, Zhang grew up in poverty.

His father died before he was 3 years old, and he helped his mother with farm work and fishing from an early age, according to state media reports.

But Zhang studied hard and was admitted to the economics department of Xiamen University, a prestigious institution in his home province.

When he graduated, China was in the midst of the ravages of the Cultural Revolution, a decade of political and social upheaval unleashed by the late Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966.

Zhang was assigned a humble job at a state oil company in neighboring Guangdong province, carrying sacks of cement from the warehouse. According to Chinese state media, it was while working there that he met Kang Jie, a colleague who would become his wife, although the report did not provide further details of their relationship. Zhang eventually rose through the ranks to become the party chief of the oil company and began his political career from there.

In the next three decades, Zhang continued his ascent.

In the 1990s, he was put in charge of economic planning for Guangdong, a pioneer of China's economic reforms.

In Guangdong, he also had a brief stint as party chief for Shenzhen, home to a special economic zone established by the late Supreme Leader Deng Xiaoping and one of the fastest growing cities in China at the time.

After the turn of the century, Zhang was transferred to Shandong, China's third-largest provincial economy, before becoming party chief for Tianjin, a major port city near Beijing, in 2007.

Zhang Gaoli, then secretary of the Tianjin Communist Party, attends a panel discussion of the Tianjin delegation during the 18th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 9, 2012.

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What are the accusations?

It was in Tianjin that Zhang is alleged to have started a sexual relationship with Peng, according to the tennis star's social media post.

Peng claimed in the post that she first had sex with Zhang more than 10 years ago, although she did not explain the circumstances.

In 2012, when Xi assumed command of the party, Zhang was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing.

Peng alleges that he broke contact with her shortly after.

Then, the post alleges, one morning about three years ago after Zhang retired, Peng was suddenly invited by him to play tennis in Beijing.

Afterward, he wrote, Zhang and his wife took Peng back to their home, where Peng claims that she was pressured into having sex with Zhang.

"That afternoon I did not agree at first and was crying the whole time," Peng wrote.

Later, at dinner with Zhang and his wife, Zhang tried to convince her, according to the publication.

"You said the universe was so big that the earth was just a grain of sand in comparison, and that humans were even less than that. You kept talking, trying to persuade me to let go of my 'mental baggage,' '' he alleges. Peng in the post.

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She alleges that she eventually relented, due to panic and fear, and with her "feelings" for Zhang from his time in Tianjin, according to the publication.

Peng said she later began an extramarital affair with Zhang, but suffered "too many injustices and insults."

She claimed that they had a fight at the end of October and Zhang refused to receive her and disappeared.

"I couldn't describe how disgusted I was, and how many times I wondered if I'm still human. I feel like a walking corpse. Every day I was acting, who is the real me?" Peng wrote.

CNN was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the 1,600-plus-word post.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian declined to comment on whether the Chinese government will launch an investigation into Peng's sexual assault allegations against Zhang.

He reiterated earlier comments made to reporters, saying that Peng's situation "was not a diplomatic issue."

He added that the government hoped that "malicious speculation" about Peng's welfare and whereabouts would cease, and that his case should not be politicized.

Peng's original post via Chinese social media was deleted within 30 minutes.

Since then, Chinese censors have been diligently erasing his name and even the vaguest references to his accusations on the Internet.

• Chinese state media show photos they say Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai posted

And as people connected to Chinese state media promote the narrative that Peng is fine on international platforms that are blocked in China, mention of the tennis star remains completely absent within the national media and the online country sphere.

Zhang, meanwhile, has remained silent.

His last public appearance was on July 1, at a grand ceremony celebrating the centenary of the founding of the party in central Beijing.

The septuagenarian was seen standing on top of the Gate of Heavenly Peace among a row of retired leaders.

Will there be an investigation?

Peng Shuai during her first singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia on January 21, 2020.

The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), as well as some of the biggest names in tennis and the United Nations have called for a full, fair and transparent investigation into Peng's allegations against Zhang.

But so far, there have been no indications that an investigation is underway.

The Chinese authorities have not acknowledged Peng's accusation and it is unclear whether Peng has reported his allegations to the police.

Peng Shuai wrote in the post that she did not have any proof and that "it was simply impossible to have proof" because Zhang was always concerned that she would record things.

Ling Li, an expert in Chinese law and politics at the University of Vienna, said that if Peng's allegations were true, Zhang's extramarital affair would certainly be considered "improper" and a violation of "lifestyle discipline." of the party.

According to the rules of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection, the party's much-feared disciplinary watchdog, the penalty for such an offense ranges from warning to expulsion from the party, depending on how much damage the party has suffered from the offense, he said. Li.

"Having said that, there has not been any party official of (Zhang Gaoli's) rank who has been expelled from the party just for a lifestyle offense. And a sexual misconduct charge does not necessarily trigger an anti-corruption investigation," he added .

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"If past practice is any guide, to initiate an anti-corruption investigation against a Politburo member or higher, the decision should be made by the Politburo Standing Committee collectively."

Xi's broad anti-corruption campaign has previously targeted senior officials, including a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, but all were initiated by the party itself.

In China, party leaders of Zhang's rank are beyond reproach from the general public, and it would be almost unthinkable that a sexual assault charge could topple a superior leader.

Deng, the former editor of the party's magazine, said it is virtually impossible for the Communist Party to give in to international pressure to carry out a transparent investigation into Zhang Gaoli and release the results to the world.

Although Zhang is not seen as an ally of Xi (instead, he is considered to be in the orbit of former President Jiang Zemin and his alleged Shanghai faction), publicly punishing a former elite official who worked so closely with Xi for alleged conduct Sexual misconduct would likely be considered a great embarrassment not only to the party, but also to Xi himself, especially since Xi has redoubled his efforts to enforce party discipline.

Under Xi, the party has set an example for disgraced officials, including those who have abused their power for sex.

In recent years, it has become common for lewd accounts of officials' tangled private lives to be published in state media following their dismissal on corruption charges.

"As soon as he came to power, Xi stressed that officials must be honest and upright, and act as moral models for society. He has demanded Communist Party members maintain their (ideological) purity," Deng said.

"While indiscretion in private life still prevails among officials, it is a different matter when it is released into public view."

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And because of that, Deng says he believes the party has probably already quietly launched an internal investigation into Peng Shuai's allegations.

But neither the process nor the outcome of the investigation is likely to be announced externally, he said.

"The last thing they want to do is give the international community the impression that they have been pressured to do so," Deng said.

Now, the ball is in the court of the international sports community, whether they are satisfied with Peng's "proof of life" videos or whether they will continue to push for a full investigation into his allegations.

As for Zhang, he likely never expected that after spending much of the final years of his career preparing for the Winter Olympics, the accusations against him would one day fuel growing calls to boycott the Games.

"But if more and more countries join the Olympic boycott and the pressure becomes too acute, we cannot completely exclude the possibility, however small, that (the party) will throw Zhang into the water," Deng said.

"This was originally a scandal against Zhang Gaoli, but (the party's) fetish for power has dulled his response, turning a personal scandal into a national scandal."

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