Foreign ministry takes unrepentant stance to concerns in west over wellbeing of
Tennis player
![China condemns ‘malicious hyping’ over Peng Shuai](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ae16b7fbd30ab8bff703b1e88bb822e0bc65cf3a/0_200_6000_3599/master/6000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=12c3c2967a7767e3f82be791dc8f0add)
China’s foreign ministry has accused unnamed people of “malicious hyping” in the case of the tennis star Peng Shuai, in a hardline and unrepentant response to questions in the west over her wellbeing.
The whereabouts and wellbeing of Peng, a former doubles world number one, has become a matter of international concern over the past three weeks, after she alleged in a message on the Chinese
Social Media site Weibo that the country’s former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her. Peng ceased to be seen in public shortly after she made her allegation on 2 November.