The message from Brussels came a day before the WTA announced its withdrawal from China: “The EU expresses its solidarity with Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, who disappeared shortly after posting sexual assault allegations on Chinese social media. The fact that she recently reappeared in public does not alleviate worries about her security and freedom. ”Already the first two sentences of the statement by spokeswoman Josep Borrells, the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union, on Tuesday on the situation in Peng Shuai, the former number one in the double world rankings, have it all.

First of all, the obvious: Peng Shuai's well-being continues to be a major concern. The WTA is convinced of this, the EU is convinced of it. The spokeswoman for the highest representative of European foreign policy, who despite all practical deficits tries to live up to the claim that European legal values ​​and universal human rights describe, agrees with the demand of international athletes: there must be assurances that Peng Shuai is free and not threatened .

"The EU requires the Chinese government to provide verifiable evidence of Peng Shuai's safety, welfare and whereabouts," it said.

Her allegations - Peng accuses former Chinese Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault - should be investigated through a full, fair and free trial.

And: The EU clearly rejects the Chinese practice of forced disappearance and arbitrary internment, especially with a view to monitoring the apartment at a predetermined location.

Message behind solidarity address

You don't have to read very carefully between the lines to see what is feared in Borrell's office with regard to the current situation of Peng Shuai: The tennis player is being held, is a prisoner and is the host of the winter games next February.

Even in the highest foreign policy circles in Brussels, the phone call that Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, had with Peng on the weekend before last was not convincing.

With a view to the Olympics in Beijing, that can only mean that Europe's politicians will draw conclusions.

As if China wanted to forestall a diplomatic boycott, the "Global Times" said in the past few days that the government had no plans to invite American politicians.

The list of uninvited people could grow quickly.

The EU statement is worth another look: the comparison with what Bach's IOC had formulated after the phone call.

Solidarity with the tennis player who claims to have been abused, as formulated by the EU after athletes all over the world, was not mentioned at the IOC - the organization that wrote the promotion of women in the second article of its Olympic Charter.

And so there is this message in the solidarity address from Brussels: The European Union makes it clear who is failing Peng Shuai.

The WTA drew its conclusions from this on Wednesday.