Rights pressure builds ahead of Winter Olympics

Tennis star Peng Shuai is an unlikely symbol of Chinese government repression. Like many Chinese celebrities, her social media profile is peppered with emoji of the national flag and pictures from Chinese Communist Party events.

Yet Peng’s bombshell allegation of sexual abuse by former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli earlier this month has galvanised calls to boycott the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights abuses in China. Beijing has slammed the campaign as a ‘‘farce’’ that politicises the games.

The standoff comes amid heightened scrutiny of Beijing as the international business community. Sports associations and events are pressed to take a stand on human rights issues in China, even as Beijing has become more resolute in rebuffing pressure campaigns.

The international deadlock over civil freedoms in China is only likely to intensify as President Xi Jinping continues to expand a powerful security state that sees threats to the party’s power everywhere – not least from outside voices drawing attention to oppression at home.

United States President Joe Biden has said the White House is considering a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics, which

start on February 4. The measure has both angered Beijing and inspired calls for US athletes not to compete.

Amid the tussle, activists sense a building sea change in global discussion of China’s human rights record, as governments, multinationals and global organisations struggle to ignore an expanding list of concerns.

The worsening situation in China – and the party’s more aggressive response to criticism – means international institutions find it hard to predict ‘‘whether they are going to step on a land mine’’, said Yaqiu Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The fallout from Peng’s post is a reminder of the unpredictable nature of China’s crackdowns.

After the allegations were posted on her official Weibo page, she was conspicuously absent from public view for more than two weeks, prompting tennis stars such as Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka to issue calls for her safety. Last week, she resurfaced in carefully curated public appearances reported by Chinese state media.

How Peng was quickly censored online and disappeared, before a seemingly controlled reappearance in Chinese state media, was part of a series of events that human rights activists say share similarities with past detentions of individuals deemed a threat to Communist Party rule.

Boycott campaigns for the Beijing Winter Games had already gained traction in Western capitals because of the mass internment of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other mostly Muslim groups in Xinjiang, religious repression in Tibet, and the disappearance of rights activists and lawyers.

But there are few signs that Beijing is considering changing course.

This month, a history resolution to cement Xi’s chances of continuing to rule for a third term from late 2022 warned of ‘‘external encirclement’’ and stressed the need to ‘‘fight to the end’’ with any forces that attempt to subvert the party.

The Chinese authorities’

touchiness means global outcries have a mixed record of securing better treatment of repressed groups.

In some cases, China has taken steps to protect its international image while making largely cosmetic adjustments to policies. In others, criticism has only fortified official resolve and led to an escalation of suppression.

After reeducation camps in Xinjiang were exposed, sparking a global backlash, Beijing launched a fierce defence of its policy before eventually declaring that all ‘‘students’’ had ‘‘graduated’’. But overseas Uighurs remain unable to contact missing relatives, even after several democratic nations labelled China’s Xinjiang policy ‘‘genocide’’.

Such brazenness has led several internationally known US athletes and sports teams, often supporters of movements like Black Lives Matter or #MeToo in their country, to speak up about social issues in China, sparking

intense pushback from the Chinese authorities.

Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter’s recent criticisms of Xi over Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang led to a blackout of his team’s games in China, worsening the NBA’s already troubled relationship with the Chinese government.

The charged atmosphere means organisations like the International Olympic Committee and the Women’s Tennis Association, implicated in Peng’s case, are being compelled to make a choice: accept China’s denials of wrongdoing and risk complicity, or raise concerns and accept likely reprisals from Beijing.

Gradually building momentum for the #MeToo movement in China has run up against censorship and detention of prominent feminist activists. Peng’s post echoed past allegations against Chinese men who abuse their position of power to assault women or coerce them into sexual relationships.