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Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has called for making COVID vaccination mandatory immediately for the entire German population.

As reported by Der Spiegel, “Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) fears that the number of infections will rise sharply due to the new Omicron virus variant. “I assume a massive fifth wave,” said Lauterbach when visiting a vaccination center in Hanover.

Lauterbach further declared “We have to assume that the wave of omicrons that we are facing, which in my opinion we cannot prevent, will be a massive challenge for our hospitals, for our intensive care units, but also for society as a whole.”

The health minister further claimed that Omicron cannot be “got under control” with a double vaccination alone.

“We mustn’t be lulled into a false sense of security,” he said, urging that a “massive booster campaign” is needed “boosting several million people a week”.

Lauterbach added that he intends to try “by all means” to make the vaccines compulsory.

Lauterbach added: “Omicron will not be the last variant and we need to develop ‘polyvariant’ vaccines” which can take years.

— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) December 19, 2021

The comments come a week after Angela Merkel’s successor in Germany declared that there would be “no red lines” in the battle against the current wave of COVID, which he declared to be fueled by unvaccinated citizens.

New Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that he supports vaccine mandates across Germany, noting that he intends to “vote for compulsory vaccination, because it is legally permissible and morally right.”

Scholz previously said he wants to introduce mandatory coronavirus vaccination for all Germans as early as February, according to sources close to him.

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Russia is still awaiting a definitive response after last week it delivered a series of security proposals in the form of two separate draft documents submitted to Brussels and Washington. First floated by Putin amid the growing Ukraine standoff, they are intended to kickstart serious negotiations that would ensure the peaceful co-existence of Russia and NATO, central to which is Moscow’s demand of no more NATO eastward expansion.

An initial response was issued over the weekend on the occasion of German Defense minister Christine Lambrecht’s visit to Lithuania, where she vowed that Russia will not “dictate” NATO’s affairs. Lambrecht said, “We have to talk to each other, which means discussing the proposals that Russia has put forward, but it cannot be that Russia dictates to NATO partners how they position themselves.”

In fresh comments Russia’s deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko at the same time stressed the proposals are urgently aimed at averting a potential major military conflict with NATO as tensions are at a tipping point. Crucially deputy FM Grushko stressed that if Moscow gets rebuffed or ignored in these attempts to hammer out security guarantees, Russia will be forced to prepare “counter-threats” of its own.

This also after the European Union has separately prepared a new sanctions package to enforce in the event Russia threatens Ukraine.

Grushko had this message to NATO and the EU over the weekend: “[By proposing the deal] we make it clear that we are ready to talk about how to transform a military or a military-technical scenario into a political process that will strengthen the military security of all states within The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Euro-Atlantic area and Eurasia.”

But should the West shut the door on Moscow’s overtures in the form of this security document, Russia must resort to “creating counter-threats” of its own, he added. Grushko referred to the potential for a greater force build-up near Ukraine and in Crimea, including the deployment of new weapons systems – which has for over the past month already alarmed the West.

Here’s more of what the high-ranking diplomat said, including that time is of the essence, according to a translation in Russian media:

“It will [then] be too late then to ask us why we’ve made such decisions, why we’ve deployed such systems,” he said.

Arguing that increasingly strained Russia-NATO relations have reached “the moment of truth,” which calls for a “fundamental decision,” the minister stressed that the ball is now in NATO’s court.  

“We have taken this step and proceed from the fact that it will no longer be possible to somehow brush it [the security proposals] off.”

It bears recalling that according to the draft submission of the Russia-proposed document, the Kremlin laid out that it’s willing to restrict its own military activities if NATO abides by the same.

For example, in one section the document reads: 

“The Parties shall refrain from flying heavy bombers equipped for nuclear or non-nuclear armaments or deploying surface warships of any type, including in the framework of international organizations, military alliances or coalitions, in the areas outside national airspace and national territorial waters respectively, from where they can attack targets in the territory of the other Party.”

Meanwhile, below is The Washington Post’s take on the security proposals, which likely reflects the hawkish consensus within the Biden administration…

‘The deal Russia seeks with the United States would significantly weaken Ukraine, forcing it to abandon its aspirations to join NATO, and cutting Kyiv off from the U.S. military aid and weapons it needs to defend itself’ https://t.co/wz1UrvvCKw

— Andrew deGrandpré (@adegrandpre) December 17, 2021

Last Friday in unveiling the proposals, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying that, “We are ready to immediately, even tomorrow — literally tomorrow, on Saturday, December 18th — to go for talks with the US in a third country.” As this week moves forward without a response, the Russians’ rhetoric expressing frustration and impatience will without doubt only grow.

Authored by Alex Berenson via ‘Unreported Truths’ substack,

The Danes are now publishing extremely detailed daily data about Covid cases and hospitalizations – not just about Omicron, but all Covid variants.

And, in news that will surprise precisely no one who has been alive the last two years, they paint a picture entirely different than what the media claims.

Omicron – which continues to appear significantly less dangerous though more transmissible than earlier variants of Covid – has been used as a cover for vaccine failure.

Most new Covid cases in Denmark occur in people who are vaccinated or boosted – and that is true for both Omicron and earlier variants. More than 76 percent of non-Omicron Covid infections in Denmark are in vaccinated people, along with about 90 percent of Omicron infections.

Further, only 25 of the 561 people currently hospitalized in Denmark for Covid have the Omicron variant. The Danes do not provide an exact number for patients in intensive care with Omicron, saying only that it is fewer than five.

Perhaps the most stunning fact about Omicron and Denmark is that its rise actually parallels a marked slowdown in the growth of Danish hospitalizations and intensive care patients. Those rose roughly fivefold between mid-October and late November, as the Danes left the happy vaccine valley. Since then they have barely budged, rising about 20 percent.

Danish Covid hospitalizations over the last three months: note that the rise predates Omicron.

The Danish data also show that people with Omicron are both less likely to be hospitalized than those with other variants and released from the hospital much more quickly – in line with what South African health authorities have reported.

On Friday, for example, the Danes reported that the total number of hospital patients with Omicron since the epidemic began reached 77, up by 20 patients from Thursday.

But the number of Omicron patients currently hospitalized rose only by eight between Thursday and Friday, from 17 to 25. Thus 12 out of the 17 Omicron patients on Thursday appear to have been released overnight.

Compared to Monday’s report, the trend is even more clear. The number of Omicron cases has roughly tripled, but the number of people hospitalized has barely budged, from 14 to 25.

SOURCE: https://www.ssi.dk/-/media/cdn/files/covid19/omikron/statusrapport/rapp…

https://www.ssi.dk/-/media/cdn/files/covid19/omikron/statusrapport/rapp…

About the only reason for concern in any of the Danish data is that Omicron still appears to be preferentially infecting younger people – though not people under 15, who are more likely to be unvaccinated.

Overall, though, the figures out of Denmark largely back those from South Africa – and make clear that the reason that Europe has seen a massive rise in cases and hospitalizations this fall has nothing to do with Omicron and everything to do with vaccine failure.

Authored by Peter Schweizer via The Gatestone Institute,

• For Ray Dalio, moral relativism is great for business.

• Bridgewater’s business is investment funds. Having more of those in China means more money for Bridgewater. It is really that simple. But in China business deals are not done with fellow capitalists who are dedicated to economic liberty and the free flow of capital to its most rational uses.

• Dalio is willfully ignorant defense of Chinese communism… it is the calculated hypocrisy of the rope-selling capitalist.

• Major American businesses are more worried about the prospect for growing or even losing their Chinese business revenues than about standing up against tyranny abroad, the silencing of Americans at home, and the outspoken intention of the Chinese Communist Party to supplant the United States — and the freedom that comes with it — as the world’s preeminent nation.

• Apple also bowed to the Chinese government’s demand to give it full access to the data of its customers in China, even banning apps that would allow ordinary Chinese citizens to bypass their government’s sophisticated surveillance.

• This is in contrast to Apple’s refusal in 2016 of an FBI request to break into the encryption of its iPhone after a domestic terrorist mass shooting incident in San Bernardino, California. Tim Cook told Apple employees at the time that his refusal was based on civil liberties concerns, which apparently did not stop him from agreeing to the Chinese Communist Party’s demands.

• “Of course, Apple and Nike publicly claim to decry slave labor. But to be clear, the behavior we are seeing from US corporations is not about a company surviving: It’s about discontent with just hundreds of millions of dollars, desiring instead billions of dollars.” — Jake Tapper, CNN, December 5, 2021.

One of the sadder realities of modern business is seeing how China has managed to co-opt and make hostages of American capitalists dazzled by the riches of the Chinese market. Ray Dalio (pictured) of Bridgewater Associates is just the latest financial titan to play the “Who am I to judge how another country runs itself?” card. (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

One of the sadder realities of modern business is seeing how China has managed to co-opt and make hostages of American capitalists dazzled by the riches of the Chinese market. Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates is just the latest financial titan to play the “Who am I to judge how another country runs itself?” card.

For Dalio, moral relativism is great for business.

Bridgewater’s business is investment funds. Having more of those in China means more money for Bridgewater. It is really that simple. In China, however, business deals are not done with fellow capitalists who are dedicated to economic liberty and the free flow of capital to its most rational uses. They are conducted with western-educated, government-tied, military-tied, intelligence-tied Chinese kingpins and princelings who understand their ultimate loyalty is to the Chinese Communist Party.

After the Wall Street Journal reported that Dalio had raised $1.25 billion to create Bridgewater’s third investment fund in China, Dalio was asked by a CNBC host the frequently asked questions about doing business in China, given its many human rights abuses. Dalio demurred, claiming “I can’t be an expert in these types of things.” When asked in the same interview about the Chinese regime “disappearing” tennis star Peng Shuai from the public view for a month, Dalio stuttered out the explanation that the Chinese regime is really “like a strict parent.” He even tossed in the moral relativist’s favorite argument:

“And then I look at the United States and I say, well, what’s going on in the United States and should I not invest in the United States because other things, err, human rights issues or other things?”

For a man once described by former FBI director James Comey as “one smart bastard,” Dalio’s willfully ignorant defense of Chinese communism looks pathetic. It is actually even worse than that — it is the calculated hypocrisy of the rope-selling capitalist.

Dalio is actually deeply knowledgeable about how things work in China. He has called Wang Qishan, the second most powerful man in the Chinese Communist Party, a “personal hero.” In his 2017 book, Principles, Dalio confessed, “Every time I speak with Wang, I feel like I get closer to cracking the unifying code that unlocks the laws of the universe.”

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan might not have quite Dalio’s level of reverence for someone known throughout China as “Xi’s enforcer,” but Dimon came to understand the importance of the “Who am I to judge?” principle of business etiquette in China. While in Hong Kong recently, Dimon casually joked that “the Communist Party is celebrating its 100th year. So is JPMorgan [referring to the firm’s Chinese business]. And I’ll make a bet we last longer.”

That will not do. And sure enough, Dimon quickly walked back the comment. “I regret and should not have made that comment. I was trying to emphasize the strength and longevity of our company,” he said. A corporate spokesperson said the bank was committed to China and that Dimon had made clear during the discussion in Boston that “China and its people are very smart and very thoughtful… Dimon acknowledges that he should never speak lightly or disrespectfully about another country or its leadership,” the spokesperson added.

It is tempting to write off such obviously insincere apologies as simply a necessary part of business etiquette — the flattery necessary to make a buck in a hostile environment. That is what most Americans assume when they read stories about basketball star Lebron James upbraiding another NBA team’s general manager for supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. James, who earns millions in licensing fees for jerseys and other items bearing his name and likeness in China, said that Houston Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey was “either misinformed or not really educated on the situation” regarding Chinese repression of dissent in the territory.

But this masks a darker implication: that major American businesses are more worried about the prospect for growing or even losing their Chinese business revenues than about standing up against tyranny abroad, the silencing of Americans at home, and the outspoken intention of the Chinese Communist Party to supplant the United States — and the freedom that comes with it — as the world’s preeminent nation. There is a dangerous parallel between the thought-policing that has been mainstreamed on American college campuses and the self-censorship of American business.

Apple’s Tim Cook pioneered the company’s entrance into China as Apple’s operations chief, which helped make Apple the most valuable company in the world. Apple now assembles nearly all of its products and earns a fifth of its revenue in the China region. Apple also bowed to the Chinese government’s demand to give it full access to the data of its customers in China, even banning apps that would allow ordinary Chinese citizens to bypass their government’s sophisticated surveillance. This is in contrast to Apple’s refusal in 2016 of an FBI request to break into the encryption of its iPhone after a domestic terrorist mass shooting incident in San Bernardino, California. Tim Cook told Apple employees at the time that his refusal was based on civil liberties concerns, which apparently did not stop him from agreeing to the Chinese Communist Party’s demands.

In 2015, President Xi stopped off in Silicon Valley before meeting with President Barack Obama, meeting the heads of Amazon, Airbnb, Facebook, and Microsoft. According to Matt Sheehan’s book, The Transpacific Experiment: How China and California Collaborate and Compete for Our Future, after Xi entered the gathering a thunderstruck Cook asked, “Did you feel the room shake?”

Viewed simply as the over-enthusiastic gushing of a businessman with dollar-signs for eyes, Cook’s swooning, Dimon’s kowtowing, or Dalio’s feigned ignorance of Chinese repression as “strict parenting” are cringeworthy enough. But with China flexing its muscles on the world stage more every day, one must wonder, is there any line they won’t cross?

It was all too much for Jake Tapper of CNN, who did not mince words in criticizing them all: “The millionaires and billionaires of Hollywood and the NBA and the IOC and Wall Street are all so eager for Chinese cash, they’re pretending none of this is happening,” he recently said.

“Of course, Apple and Nike publicly claim to decry slave labor. But to be clear, the behavior we are seeing from US corporations is not about a company surviving: It’s about discontent with just hundreds of millions of dollars, desiring instead billions of dollars.”

Tapper concluded, “There is no amount of money that can buy enough soap to wash that blood off their hands.”

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Peter Schweizer, President of the Governmental Accountability Institute, is a Gatestone Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow and author of the best-selling books Profiles in Corruption, Secret Empires and Clinton Cash, among others.

Just when Pfizer and Moderna were pumping out FUD about the omicron variant alongside obviously optimistic “data” about the efficacy of their vaccines, the word has come out of New Zealand: authorities there have linked the death of a 26-year-old man to the vaccine.

According to Reuters, New Zealand authorities on Monday said they had linked a 26-year-old man’s death to Pfizer’s COVID vaccine after the deceased suffered myocarditis, a rare inflammation of the heart muscle, after taking his first dose. The condition has been notably linked to mRNA vaccines for months now, and this is not the first case of a death being linked to the vaccine in New Zealand (there have been dozens of cases in the US).

What’s more, this isn’t the first death the media has reported in New Zealand. Per Reuters:

The death is New Zealand’s second linked to a known but rare side effect from the vaccine after health authorities in August reported a woman had died after taking her doses.

“With the current available information, the board has considered that the myocarditis was probably due to vaccination in this individual,” a COVID Vaccine Independent Safety Monitoring Board said in a statement.

Details about the incident were sparse, but Reuters added that the individual – whose name hasn’t been released – died within two weeks of his first dose. He had not sought medical advice or treatment for his symptoms.

A Pfizer spokesperson told Reuters the company was “aware” of the death in New Zealand, and that it monitored all reports of possible “adverse events.” Still, it continues to believe the risk-benefit profile is positive.

New Zealand’s vaccine safety board also said another two people, including a 13-year-old, had died with possible myocarditis after taking their vaccinations. More details were needed before linking the child’s death to the vaccine, while the death of a man in his 60s was unlikely related to the vaccine, it said.

We can’t help but wonder: have there been more deaths like this in the US? We know there have at least been some. And keep in mind, nobody’s paying anything to help the families affected by this.

Authored by Ben Garrison via GrrrGraphics.com,

IGNORING THE OBVIOUS

In America we are all entitled to an opinion.

The First Amendment guarantees our free speech. Unfortunately, many are now censored for having an opinion that does not align with the ‘official’ one pushed by the globalist ‘authorities.’ In particular, any opinion that contradicts the current and ongoing medical tyranny is banned. We at GrrrGraphics recently endured a one-week suspension on Twitter merely because one of our cartoons questioned the abuse of vaccines. It’s my opinion, based on copious evidence, that the so-called vaccines for COVID-19 aren’t working. That said, we at GrrrGraphics are not dispensing medical advice. If you insist on getting jabbed with experimental gene therapy drugs, then that’s your decision.

Back in February Anthony Fauci pronounced the Covid injections to be “100 percent safe and effective” at preventing death by the Chinese bioweapon he helped fund. This was ridiculous if one considers that it usually takes a new vaccine nearly a decade of trials and testing before given to mass populations. In this case, billions around the world have been subjected to a giant lab experiment.

By April, Fauci downgraded his glowing scientific analysis and said no vaccine is 100 percent effective. No kidding. Everyone’s body chemistry is different. A one-size fits all inoculation is crazy. Some are allergic, some have already had vaccine damage and can’t take more. Due to the lack of testing, who knows what dangers lie ahead for the vaccinated.

Then we found out the vaccines did not stop the jabbed from transmitting the virus. Then we found out the vaccinated could still contract COVID-19, but Fauci said if that happened the symptoms would be less severe. Then we started hearing about people who were fully vaccinated yet still died from the virus, and along the way we read many stories of people dying from the vaccinations themselves.

Fauci has been promoted as the very embodiment of science, but he’s often wrong. He was wrong about the treatment of AIDS sufferers about three decades ago. Many died from him recommending the drug, AZT until it was pulled from the market.  Israel recently awarded Fauci a one million dollar prize for ‘speaking truth to power’ amid the so-called pandemic. That was a howler. Fauci is the sadistic face of power that has corrupted science. Let’s not forget he funded the torture of beagles. A man who is cruel to animals has no problem being cruel to human beings.

Now we’re seeing increased Covid cases and deaths among the fully vaccinated. The lying corporate media won’t talk about it, but, you can find plenty of evidence presented by real journalists.

We will have continue to hear about one variant after another. Coronavirus tends to mutate. That’s why it’s tough to cure the common cold. I’m sure Fauci and Gates will recommend endless boosters and new vaccines. Gates, Fauci, and Big Pharma, will all continue to rake in even more taxpayer money. More people will die, but that’s the New World Order’s plan. Fear will continue to be fanned because it’s necessary for the globalists’ Great Reset plan. That plan includes far less humans on a planet owned by the oligarchs at the top of the pyramid.

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For the second time this month, a cruise ship with fully vaccinated adult passengers and crew detected a COVID-19 outbreak. 

Forty-eight people aboard a Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship, tested positive for COVID on Saturday after returning from a week-long cruise. 

“Everyone who tested positive was asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and we continuously monitored their health,” Royal Caribbean told NBC Miami. “Each person quickly went into quarantine,” the statement said.

The five positive cases in our group have been sent to the Holiday Inn Miami. 2 already have rooms. @RoyalCaribbean has the rest sitting in a conference center without chairs or water/ food. My partner had to call and make a fuss for them to provide these essentials. pic.twitter.com/8jBqcsAoLN

— Connor O’Dell (@connorwitha_no) December 18, 2021

Royal Caribbean’s health policy requires all adults to be vaxxed with at least two shots of Pfizer or Moderna or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The outbreak represents 0.78% of the 6,091 passengers and crew who left Miami on Dec. 11 and sailed to Caribbean ports St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Royal Caribbean’s private island, CocoCay. The cruise ship returned to homeport on Dec. 18.  

Cruise ships have been lauded as one of the safest vacations due to their strict health policies of only allowing vaxxed adults — but as the vaccine efficacy wanes, that appears not to be the case. 

Earlier this month, Norwegian Breakaway, owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, detected an outbreak of COVID despite a fully vaxxed ship. 

Cruise Industry News reported the cruise ship industry had tightened its mask measures amid surging virus cases in the US. 

What’s becoming evident is that efficacy rates for vaccines are dropping. A recent study of the three primary COVID vaccines showed a ‘dramatic‘ drop in efficacy over six months. So as cruise ship operators hit the high seas with only fully vaxxed passengers and crews that have waning defenses against the virus, one would suspect additional outbreaks on ships as new infections surge across the US. 

So what are cruise ship operators supposed to do now? Only allow people who’ve had three boosters or more on vessels?

In what was the first Hong Kong legislative election since Beijing overhauled the electoral system to allow the vetting and restriction of candidates according to their political views and “patriotism”, turnout hit a record low.

As CNN reports, it’s also the city’s first Legislative Council election since stringent new electoral reforms were passed in March.

The changes gave the government greater vetting powers, dramatically lessening the public’s ability to vote directly for candidates, and only allowed government-screened “patriots” – those loyal to Beijing and its ruling Communist Party – to stand.

Under the previous system, about half of the 70-seat legislature was directly elected by the public, while the other half was chosen by trade and industry bodies that usually favor pro-China candidates.

As Statista’s Martin Armstrong notes, since 1998, the share of eligible voters casting their ballot has been between 44 and 58 percent.

This time round though, despite government officials urging people to vote as well as providing free public transport, that sunk to just 30 percent.

You will find more infographics at Statista

This increase in voter apathy has largely been attributed to what Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and US referred to in a post-election joint statement as “grave concern over the erosion of democratic elements” in Hong Kong. China, on the other hand describes the recent changes as a push to ensure stability after a prolonged period of protests which began in 2019.

Carrie Lam, the city’s leader, thanked voters late Sunday night, saying it was “an important election following the improvements to the electoral system to implement the principle of ‘patriots administering Hong Kong.”

After the election, won by pro-China candidates, China said in a white paper that Hong Kong was now entering a new stage of “restored order”.

California homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments due to the pandemic, or whatever, are about to receive up to $80,000 per household in the form of a direct payment to mortgage servicers.

The $1 billion program funded by taxpayers – as opposed to making homeowners tap into the massive equity gained in their homes while they weren’t making payments – was approved by the US Department of the Treasury, and will apply to as many as 40,000 struggling homeowners according to a statement from Newsom’s office.

“We are committed to supporting those hit hardest by the pandemic, and that includes homeowners who have fallen behind on their housing payments,” it reads. “No one should have to live in fear of losing the roof over their head, so we’re stepping up to support struggling homeowners to get them the resources they need to cover past due mortgage payments.”

Newsom noted that renters and landlords had already received assistance.

“Now, with our California Mortgage Relief Program, we are extending that relief to homeowners,” he said.

The funding, which is allocated through the federal American Rescue Plan Act’s Homeowner Assistance Fund, is provided as a one-time grant that qualified homeowners will not be required to repay.

Californians at or below 100% of their county’s area median income, who own a single-family home, condo or manufactured home, and who faced pandemic-related hardships after Jan. 21, 2020, may be eligible for the program. –Sacramento Bee

Will those who didn’t over-commit themselves in the first place receive tax credits?

Once again, moral hazard FTW.

Authored by Nicole Hao via The Epoch Times,

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said on Dec. 19 that she had never accused anyone of sexually assaulting her, and that her post on social media had been misunderstood.

In a six-minute interview with Singapore’s pro-Beijing Chinese-language media Lianhe Zaobao, Peng said she was not under house arrest and her posts were misunderstood.

On Nov. 2, Peng, 35, posted on Chinese social media Weibo that China’s ex-vice premier, Zhang Gaoli, 75, with the help of his wife, forced her to have sex with him. Peng’s posts were removed from the internet shortly after, before she disappeared from the public eye for nearly three weeks. In her reappearances after that she was accompanied by Chinese officials.

Peng’s well-being have since become a matter of concern among the global tennis community and rights groups. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) even moved to halt all matches in mainland China and Hong Kong indefinitely on Dec. 1 over concerns for Peng.

“Sunday’s video looks like an intentionally arranged one,” said U.S.-based China affairs commentator Tang Jingyuan.

Tang told The Epoch Times on Dec. 19 that while it appears as though the reporter from Lianhe Zaobao stopped Peng and interviewed her on the spot, the questions and Peng’s reactions both seem pre-arranged.

“Peng didn’t deny the unethical relationships with Zhang, nor explain why she didn’t update her Weibo to clarify the misunderstandings. Even all Peng’s photos and videos that were released in the past month were published by state-run media, rather than herself,” Tang said. “I’m worried about Peng’s freedom.”

Peng Shuai of China plays a backhand during her Women’s Singles first round match against Nao Hibino of Japan on day two of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2020. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Peng’s New Video

On Dec. 19, Peng first spoke on camera about the alleged sexual assault when she attended a cross-country skiing event in Shanghai, China.

“First, I need to stress one point that is extremely important: I have never said or written that anyone has sexually assaulted me, I have to clearly stress this point,” Peng told Lianhe Zaobao.

She said what she posted on Weibo was a “private matter,” and “people have many misunderstandings” about her posts. Talking about her life, Peng said she had lived at her home in Beijing the whole time and she had freedom to do her things.

Peng talked about the email that she sent to WTA chief Steve Simon on Dec. 2. “The Chinese email is written by myself. CGTN (Chinese state-run China Global Television Network) translated it into English and posted it on its twitter.”

Simon had said at the time that he “had a hard time believing” that Peng had actually written the email or believed what had been attributed to her.

During the six-minute interview, Peng didn’t mention Zhang’s name, nor explain the misunderstandings.

This combination of file photos shows tennis player Peng Shuai of China (L) during her women’s singles first round match at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan. 16, 2017; and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli (R) during a visit to Russia at the Saint Petersburg International Investment Forum in Saint Petersburg on June 18, 2015. (Paul Crock and Alexander Zemlianichenko/AFP via Getty Images)

On Sunday, Peng watched the skiing together with Chinese sports officials, including former NBA player and current Chairman of Chinese Basketball Association Yao Ming, and vice Chair of Chinese Table Tennis Association Wang Liqin, according to Lianhe Zaobao.

In the video, Peng wears a red T-shirt, which has the characters for China, and a black down coat that has “China” in English and the Chinese flag.