A Delicate Dance

The situation involving Peng Shuai is not good to say the least.  The Chinese tennis player went public two weeks ago with accusations of sexual assault against a government official.  Those accusations were, of course, denied, but that's not even the most disturbing part.  The most disturbing part is that Peng essentially disappeared from public view almost immediately afterwards, justifiably drawing concerns about her safety and wellness.

Peng finally resurfaced last week.  On Chinese state media.  Which showed videos of her smiling and claiming she was "doing fine" and "would like to have her privacy respected."  Then she appeared in a 30-minute video conference with the IOC, which left them feeling comfortable about her well-being.  That hasn't eased everyone's concerns, though.  In fact, it's made some people even more skeptical.

China is, of course, notoriously secretive.  As a Communist country, the government has almost complete control over people's lives.  You're only allowed to know or do what they want you to know or do.  Case in point, the images of Peng posted this weekend were released on Twitter, which most Chinese citizens don't have access to.  So it's pretty obvious that they're controlling the narrative.

What has people especially concerned is the fact that Peng did something that leaders of Communist countries especially do not like.  She spoke out against the government.  And people who speak out against the government are punished.  (Why do you think so many people fled Eastern Europe in the 60s and 70s?)  So, the worry is that the government retaliated against her in some way.  And those videos don't make anyone feel any better.  Because that could still very much be the case.

It's entirely possible that the photos and videos of Peng were staged.  They were released on state media as "proof" that she's OK, but that doesn't mean she is.  She could be a political prisoner who was forced to make those videos.  No one knows the truth.  Which is exactly the way the Chinese government wants it.

That video conference with the IOC was live, so we at least know she isn't a missing person.  Beyond that, we know nothing about her well-being.  The IOC evidently came away satisfied afterwards.  Which only made people more critical of the IOC.  At first, they were accused of "not doing enough" to ensure Peng's well-being.  Now they're being accused of "capitulating to China."

This isn't the first time the IOC has been accused of turning a blind eye when it comes to China, either.  The criticism amped up earlier this year because of the human rights violations being committed in the Xinjiang region of the country.  There have even been calls for nations to boycott the upcoming Winter Games or for the IOC to remove them from Beijing.  (Neither of which is going to happen, by the way.)

What both of these situations illustrate, however, is a much larger point.  As much as people in the West may want the IOC to punish China, they can't.  The IOC isn't a political organization.  And their policy has to be to stay out of it.  That may not be a satisfactory answer for some people.  But it's really the only position they can take.  Because they have to play nice with more than 200 countries.  It's a very delicate dance to be sure.

In a way, the situation with China is a similar to the one the IOC had to deal with after the Russian doping scandal.  There are some who think the IOC was way too soft on Russia.  There are those who think the sanctions were too harsh.   And there are others who think the punishment is just right.

Of course, there's also one big difference between Russia and China.  Russia's doping problem was very much within the IOC's jurisdiction.  The whole point of it was so that they'd perform well at the Olympics.  So it wasn't just that the IOC had the authority to punish them.  They had the responsibility to.  They have no authority when it comes to what's going on in China, though.  Any move the IOC makes would be a tremendous overstep.  Which they know.

Balancing the competing interests of 200-plus countries with vastly different ideologies isn't an easy task.  Any decision they make is gonna be supported in one part of the world and criticized in another.  The situation in China is a perfect example of that.  And, just when it seemed like that had been resolved, the Peng Shaui story breaks.  Once again putting the focus on the IOC and its attitude towards China.

Would they be dealing with things in China differently if they didn't have an Olympics in Beijing coming up in a few months?  Perhaps.  That's another element of this complicated dynamic.  Because the next Olympics ARE in China, so the IOC needs to be on good terms with the Chinese government.  Likewise, the Chinese government needs to be on good terms with the IOC.  So, even though the IOC isn't a political organization, it's a calculated political game that they must play.

Other organizations don't have those same considerations to worry about.  The WTA Tour has threatened to pull its tournaments from China, which is its prerogative.  Even the UN has chimed in, expressing concern for Peng Shuai.  The UN, unlike the IOC, IS a political organization and would be completely within its rights to issue some sort of sanctions against China.

I'm not saying any of this is good.  In fact, it's just the opposite.  And there are plenty of questions that still need to be answered.  The video of Peng Shuai released over the weekend didn't really answer any.  All it did, actually, was raise more.