BEIJING, China — Florida Sen. Rick Scott urged his Senate colleagues to pass a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party and the International Olympic Committee following a new interview with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.
While speaking with French sports newspaper L'Equipe, 36-year-old Peng walked back a post she wrote about Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier and member of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, in which she accused him of sexual assault, according to The Associated Press.
"Sexual assault? I never said that anyone made me submit to a sexual assault," the newspaper quoted her as saying, the AP reported. The outlet said the interview itself was controlled, with questions submitted in advance and a Chinese Olympic committee sitting in and translating Peng's comments from Chinese.
Peng, a former No. 1-ranked player in women's doubles who won titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014, in November wrote on the Chinese social media platform Weibo that she had been forced to have sex despite repeated refusals. Her post was removed and there was no reporting on her claims on state-controlled media.
She told L'Equipe she erased the post "because I wanted to," the AP reported.
Scott denounced the IOC for what he called "an active participant in her oppression." For months, he and fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio have railed against the Olympic committee and China amid reported human rights abuses in the country. Rubio in a last-ditch effort again proposed getting the 2022 Winter Games out of the country.
President Joe Biden had earlier signed a bipartisan forced labor law that Rubio helped introduce to block the United States from allowing the entrance of goods that were produced through the slave labor of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups in China.
The Democratic-controlled House passed a resolution similar to Scott's in December, calling on the Chinese government to "immediately guarantee the safety and freedom of tennis star Peng Shuai."
Scott and a Democratic colleague from Virginia, Sen. Mark Warner, want the same action in the Senate.
"The IOC is doing the bidding of Communist China and helping to cover up its gross mistreatment and abuse of Peng Shuai. Instead of following the lead of the Women’s Tennis Association and calling for a complete and transparent investigation into Peng’s claims, securing her safety and stopping future athletic competition in Communist China, the IOC is an active participant in her oppression," Scott said in a statement.
"The Senate must take action right now by passing this bipartisan resolution, which has already unanimously passed the House, to condemn the IOC's disgusting appeasement and make clear that the United States will not tolerate these horrific abuses."
