Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai’s (彭帥) accusations against a former top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official are just the tip of the iceberg of sexual misconduct allegedly committed by senior government officers stretching back to Mao Zedong (毛澤東), a cross-strait observer said on Wednesday.
Peng in a lengthy post on Sina Weibo late on Tuesday detailed her alleged relationship with former Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli (張高麗), which she said involved coerced and consensual sexual encounters over more than a decade.
The post was taken down after about 30 minutes, but screenshots were being disseminated of the country’s first #MeToo accusation involving a senior party official.
Photo: AFP
Neither Peng nor Zhang have commented on the matter, although in her post, Peng said she would be unable to corroborate her account.
If true, it would not be the only example of a CCP official abusing his position, a cross-strait expert said.
Even in the party’s early days, there were many cases in which an official allegedly divorced his wife after hiring a young female secretary to marry her, they said.
Mao divorced his third wife, He Zizhen (賀子珍) — who joined him on the Long March — to marry Shanghai movie star Jiang Qing (江青), they said.
His case was not even the most extreme among the revolutionary leaders, as Zhu De (朱德) had six wives and Ye Jianying (葉劍英) had nine, they said, although other sources show that Zhu married four times, while Ye married six times.
This kind of corruption did not lessen after reform, especially under former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民), who was known for his promiscuity, the expert said.
Foreign media have reported that the army’s literary and art group would allegedly send photographs of women to Jiang Zemin’s office for senior officials to choose, they said.
There have also been accusations that senior officials keep mistresses and trade them among each other, “treating women like playthings,” they said.
Hong Kong’s troubled Causeway Bay Books had planned to publish a volume on alleged mistresses of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), but then-manager Lam Wing-kei (林榮基) was arrested before it was released, they said.
Zhou Yongkang (周永康), a senior official who held top positions before he was expelled from the party in 2014, was also accused of sexual misconduct, with a CCP investigation revealing that he had relationships with at least 400 women, including top broadcasters and models, the expert said.
As the CCP prepares for the sixth plenary session of its 19th Central Committee next week, during which Xi is expected to consolidate his grip over the party leadership, it is worth observing whether the accusations against Zhang — a member of Jiang Zemin’s faction — create a power struggle within the party’s upper echelons, the expert said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
RSS