Commentary Peng Shuai’s staged public appearances are a new version of Beijing’s forced televised confessions. Peng has almost certainly been either placed under house arrest, or taken into China’s RSDL (residential surveillance at a designated location) system for disappearances at a secret jail. And Chinese state-run media’s release of a purported letter from her, followed by social media posts and staged public appearances, show Beijing’s desperate attempts to guide public opinion and strike back against criticism. You do not accuse a former Politburo Standing Committee member of anything, let alone sexual assault, without consequence. Furthermore, you do not dare raise the #MeToo issue in a country where sexual misconduct is rampant, including within the highest echelons of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Yet to arrest a renowned athlete in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics would have been a bad move for the CCP. Instead, Peng has either been placed …