Thread by @GLNoronha

🧵: Let's dive into China's bogus "proof of life" propaganda around #PengShuai.

First, an email to @WTA's Steve Simon on the 17th.

Question 1: how would CGTN acquire a private email correspondence? Then why would it be reformatted into the perfect Twitter graphic format?

And then you can see the cursor on the tweeted graphic.

Then there's the WeChat photos of Peng Shuai allegedly from the 18th. They don't stand up to much scrutiny as we'll see...

https://twitter.com/shen_shiwei/status/1461715435385020419

First, none of them have any identifying information like photos you take on your phone, which means they've been stripped of it to ensure you can't see how took it or when.

(Little bonus, one of the background photos she poses with is her with Winnie the Pooh - an image banned in China because of unflattering references to Xi Jinping. That would not be lost on someone like Peng Shuai who is quite media savvy.)

The last photo is the "friend" who allegedly sent the photos from Peng's WeChat moments (an Instagram stories equivalent)- which is an anonymous account simply called "Peng Shuai 2". Strange person to be friends with the real Peng Shuai...🤔

Two days later, @huxijin_GT, the CCP's chief external propagandist releases a video of Peng Shuai and her coach in a restaurant using ridiculously forced language like:

Coach: "Tomorrow's date is November 20."
Peng: "No, tomorrow's date is November 21."

https://twitter.com/HuXijin_GT/status/1462075117266096135

His second hostage video is even worse:

First, they place a "today's date" sign on the outside of the restaurant, which shows the month (November) but then they decided to blur out the specific date.

And for some reason all audio is muted from the clip.

https://twitter.com/HuXijin_GT/status/1462077244243804170

If Peng Shuai were actually free, she would be allowed to speak for herself, using her own social media handles, not intermediaries.

She could also travel abroad and speak at press conferences. When she does, I look forward to hearing what's been happening the last two weeks.