Former world No.1 tennis doubles player Peng Shuai, one of China's biggest sports stars, has publicly accused a former Chinese vice premier of forcing her into sex several years ago in a social media post that was later deleted.
According to a screenshot of her verified Weibo account late on Tuesday, Peng said that Zhang Gaoli, who became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee — China's top decision-making body — coerced her into sex and that they later had an on-off consensual relationship.
The post was deleted around 30 minutes after it was published, although searches for Peng's name on China's tightly controlled internet surged after the posting, and screenshots were shared among private WeChat groups and over iMessage.