Who wrote Peng Shuai's email to WTA?

Peng Shuai is the 35 year old former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion, ex-world number one doubles player. She claimed on a Chinese social media on November 2 that former vice premier Zhang Gao Li, also one of the 7-member standing committee of politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, pressured her into having sex before they later had an on-off consensual relationship. Zhang Gao Li is 75 year old.

On Wednesday November 17, CGTN released a purported email from tennis star Peng Shuai, who has not been seen since accusing Zhang Gao Li of sexual abuse more than two weeks ago.

According to this email, Peng Shuai denied the whole episode, "the content has not been confirmed or verified by myself a|nd it was released without my consent. The news in that release, including the allegation of sexual assault, is not true." The "a|nd" appears to an editing mark left over from word processing.

Tennis officials have doubted the veracity of the email released by CGTN, in which Peng walked back her assault accusations while adding she was “resting at home and everything is fine.”

Women’s Tennis Association Chairman and CEO Steve Simon said he didn’t think the two-time Grand Slam champion wrote the email herself.

“The statement released today by Chinese state media concerning Peng Shuai only raises my concerns as to her safety and whereabouts,” Simon said in a written statement.

“I have a hard time believing that Peng Shuai actually wrote the email we received or believes what is being attributed to her.”

So who is CGTN? Here is some background according to its official source.

China Global Television Network, or CGTN, is headquartered in Beijing, China. Like every other television or news organization, it is a media organization under the control of the Chinese Communist Party. In China, such a license to engage in television or news publication would not be obtainable otherwise.

"It aims to provide global audiences with accurate and timely news coverage, promoting communication and understanding between China and the world", says CGTN.

"CGTN has three production centers, located in Nairobi, Washington D.C. and London ... Adhering to the principles of objectivity, rationality and balance in reporting."

Yet, by fabricating an email from Peng Shuai, and not answering questions from around the world about Peng Shuai's safety, CGTN appeared to have told the world it simply denied the Peng Shuai incident never happened. CGTN wanted the the world to forget about the whole thing.

In Peng Shuai's post a Chinese social platform on November 2, she wrote “Why did you have to come back to me, took me to your home to force me to have sex with you?” according to screenshots of the post, before it was removed within 30 minutes. Peng Shai has not been seen or heard from since, as state censors scrubbed mentions of the accusation from the platform.

“I never gave consent, crying the entire time.” “I couldn’t describe how disgusted I was, and how many times I asked myself am I still a human? I feel like a walking corpse. Every day I was acting, which person is the real me?”