The following is from Akio Yaita's serial column titled "China's Former Leader's Woman Scandal," which appeared at the beginning of the monthly magazine WiLL released on November 26.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the five serial columns at the beginning of the magazine, starting with the column by the great scholar Nobuyuki Kaji, alone surpass the truth that can be obtained by paying a monthly subscription fee of 5,000 yen to the Asahi Shimbun.
It is a must-read not only for the Japanese people but also for people worldwide.
A little after 10 p.m. on January 2, a significant incident shook the Chinese SNS and other Internet sites.
Peng Shuai, 35, a famous tennis player and the world's top-ranked women's doubles player, revealed on her Weibo (China's version of Twitter) that she had been having a three-year "affair" with Zhang Gaoli, 75, a former member of the Chinese Communist Party's top leadership.
Peng's post was deleted by China's Internet censors about 20 minutes later, but it was already too late, and the content spread not only across China but also around the world.
At first, some thought it was "false information." Still, based on corroborative interviews with reporters from various countries living in Beijing and circumstantial evidence, it was judged to be "highly credible" and was widely reported the following day.
It attracted worldwide attention as a "woman scandal involving a leader," rare in China.
Peng's lover, Zhang, was born in 1946 in Fujian Province. After graduating from university, she went to work for a major state-owned oil company and rose through the ranks, citing her "strength in numbers and quick thinking" (Chinese newspaper).
At the age of 39, he was selected as the Guangdong Provincial Economic Commission director, where he demonstrated his ability to reform state-owned enterprises.
After serving as Secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, he entered the leadership of Tianjin, a city under direct control, in 2007 as its head and member of the Politburo.
While working in Guangdong, he was seen as close to the Jiang Zemin faction, but he was rarely involved in factional struggles and had good relations with the Hu Jinqing and Xi Jinping factions.
He last retired as vice premier in 2018 and has rarely appeared in the media.
On the other hand, Peng was born in 1986 in Xiangtan, Hunan province, also the hometown of Mao Zedong.
At the age of 16, she was sent to study in the United States as a candidate for China's national team, and the following year, she joined Purow.
She won the quadruple crown in women's singles, doubles, mixed doubles, and the team at a Chinese national tournament.
She paired with Taiwan-born Xie Shubai to win the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, the 2014 French Open, and the four prominent women's doubles titles twice.
According to Peng's confession on Weibo, she had a sexual relationship with Zhang once around 2010. Still, in 2018, shortly after Zhang retired as vice premier, Peng was invited to "play tennis with him" through an acquaintance at the Tianjin Tennis Center.
After playing with Zhang at a tennis center in Beijing, he and Zhang's wife were invited to his home and forced to have a relationship with him.
At that time, Zhang's wife was standing guard outside the room.
I hadn't consented. I was crying all that afternoon," Peng wrote.
Even Peng, a world-renowned star athlete, had no way to resist the violence of the dictatorship's authorities.
After that, Peng was often called upon by Zhang, and the affair continued for about three years.
Mr. Peng once whispered sweet nothings to Mr. Zhang, such as "I love you very much" and "In the next life, let's meet at the age of 20 and 18," but Mr. Zhang's wife disliked him and hurled various insults at him when her husband was away.
Mr. Peng explained his reason for revealing his relationship with Mr. Zhang in this way.
On the night of October 30, I got into an argument with Mr. Zhang over "something.
However, at noon on the 2nd, Mr. Jang hung up the phone and refused to see her, saying only, "I'll call you again.
Peng was so angry that he decided to make their relationship public, saying, "Zhang might go into hiding."
"I'm revealing the truth with the determination to destroy myself like an egg hitting a stone," she said.
According to a Chinese journalist living in Beijing, early in the morning of the day after Peng confessed to her relationship with Zhang, many police officers were temporarily deployed around the apartment where she lived.
After that, Peng was reportedly missing and could not be reached at all.
As for the specifics of the "something" that she argued with Mr. Zhang about, this information is circulating among tennis insiders in Beijing.
When she found out that Peng was pregnant, she demanded that Zhang recognize the child, but Zhang told her to have an abortion.
About two weeks before Peng's confession, Li Yundi, 39, one of China's most famous pianists, made headlines when Beijing police arrested him on charges of prostitution.
Compared to what Li did, however, Zhang's act is far more vicious, but so far, there is no sign that he will be held criminally responsible.
On the contrary, the victim, Mr. Peng, has been deprived of his freedom by the police.
Perhaps, Peng was a celebrity who attracted attention this time, but I am sure there are many other women in China who powerful men like Peng have played.
The international community should pay more attention to the issue of women's rights in China, including the safety of Ms. Peng.
