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The editor-in-chief of the Communist Party-run Global Times, Hu Xijin, recently posted two videos on Twitter showing that Chinese tennis Peng Shuai was safe and enjoying a meal at a restaurant.
Peng seemingly disappeared days after accusing the former Vice-Premier of China of sexual assault. While nobody managed to get in touch with Peng, the Chinese state-run media constantly released snippets to prove her safety.
They first released a screenshot of an email allegedly penned by Peng to Steve Simon, head of the WTA. More recently, Xijin uploaded a few photos showing the Chinese player in what seems to be her home, surrounded by stuffed toys.
A mere 12 hours after Xijin announced that Peng would "soon" be seen in public, he posted a video showing the two-time doubles Slam champion enjoying a meal with a coach and friends at a restaurant.
According to Xijin, the videos were shot on "Saturday Beijing Time," which is not visible in the clip itself but rather in the conversation between the parties filmed. Peng, wearing a white hoodie, appears to be in good spirits, but beyond Xijin's words, there is little to vouch for the authenticity of the video.
In the second video clip posted by Xijin, the camera follows the 35-year-old Peng and another individual and lingers for a while on a paper that mentions the date 20 November 2021 (in Chinese).
Twitter users refuse to accept authenticity of the videos posted by Hu Xijin regarding Peng Shuai's safety
Some Twitter users were quick to question the authenticity of the videos posted by Hu Xijin, while others stressed that they must have been staged.
One Twitter user named zhaojunjun521 summarized the video after translating it, explaining how people explicitly mentioned the date and also spoke about the pandemic.
As such, many fans were led to believe that the conversation, as well as the video, was staged.
"The man in the video said it would be Nov 21st tomorrow and he also mentioned the pandemic," wrote one Twitter user. "This means there are two possibilities：1. the video was shot just a few hours ago，proving Peng Shuai is free. 2. The video was shot Nov. 20th 2020!"
Another user claimed the video must have been shot in 2020.
"It was shot on Nov 19th 2020. Before the man said "tomorrow, Nov 20th", he said "this year is different from the last year, this year there is pandemic..."
One of the replies to the second video posted by Xijin saw a fan point out, tongue-in-cheek, that people seldom tend to take photos of the date while at restaurants.
"When I go out with my friends, I always record the random date written on the door."
Another suggested that the video showing Peng might have been doctored in post-production.
"Or a third possibility: it is dubbed in post production. Live press conference with #PengShuai or it doesn’t count. #WhereIsPengShuai"
