The President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach made a video call with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai on November 21, because of increasing international pressure and demanding information about her health. Greg Martin/AFP/Getty Images

If you have ever thought about entering the agitprop business-you know, black operations, state-level misinformation campaigns-but worried that you don't have the qualifications or experience, then good news. China may need your help.

Last weekend, the disappearance of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was transferred to the Pink Panther territory.

After accusing China's former deputy prime minister of sexual assault, Ms. Peng has left her post without authorization for more than two weeks. When tennis star Naomi Osaka noticed, her absence became the (very real) cause. Every celebrity in the sports world wants to join this.

The Peng Shuai scandal quickly became a public relations disaster for the Chinese government

The Women's Tennis Association correctly read its own room, with both feet opposed to the Chinese regime. China responded to an email "from" Ms. Peng (this column will contain a lot of ironic quotes). Failed attempts at damage control made things worse.

WTA threatened to withdraw all of its business from China unless Ms. Peng personally does it.

Although the threat is limited, the scope is not. If WTA withdraws, all other major sporting events need to be seen to do so, otherwise it may conflict with employees who value their brand. This may be the (temporary) end of professional sports in China, or it may kill any good times brought about by the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Things became so serious that the International Olympic Committee was forced to intervene. Its goals and constituencies are different from those of the WTA (find me a Winter Olympics, he is completely to boycott Beijing), so its "threat" sounds more like an invitation to negotiate.

Dick Pond, the vice chairman of the International Olympic Committee of Canada, told Reuters: "If this problem is not resolved in a wise manner as soon as possible, it may get out of control." "Whether this will escalate to stop the Olympics, I doubt it. But you Never know."

"But you never know"-with the line drawn on the beach, it is more like a line drawn in the air with a wet finger. This is really not a line, is it?

Nonetheless, you can imagine an increasingly annoying call from the Central Committee to any group of fools in the fake letter department. Doesn't it sound like it was written by a conscious calculator? "

At that time, Ms. Peng suddenly appeared in a series of "public appearances". The videos were posted on social media through Hu Xijin, the editor of a Communist Party newspaper.

One of the most striking is spending the "night" with "friends" in a restaurant.

The conversation surrounding Ms. Peng is completely normal. When someone pointed out loudly that it was November 20th, the second person corrected the first person and said that it was November 21st. Then the first person repeats the revised date-November 21-twice. It's just the kind of light calendar-oriented joke you expect among gays.

Other videos show Ms. Peng swinging at the opening of the Beijing Youth Tennis Championships.

After WTA refused to accept these videos as proof of life, Mr. Hu changed his strategy. Another video posted on Sunday morning Eastern time showed Ms. Peng signing autographs for the children.

"Any girl can pretend to be such a sunny smile under duress," the headline reads in English. "Those who suspect that Peng Shuai is being coerced must be so dark in their hearts."

No matter how clumsy these efforts are, they have weakened the influence of the "disappearing woman" stories beloved by various media, from the most noble people to the yellow race. Ms. Peng has not disappeared anymore (although whether she is free is still an open question).

You can see where this game went wrong. WTA asked to see Ms. Peng. This is for her. It said something to the effect, "That is not what we mean by'seeing'. We ask to hear her opinion." China said: "We want to help, but I hope you can make up your mind."

This happens when you apply democratic solutions to autocratic problems. You think there are rules, but there are no rules. If you try to get the other party to agree to some rules, the rules will change.

Tennis commentator Patrick McEnroe told the New York Times: “We need to see in the live video that she is holding the newspaper from today, or better yet, hitting the ball.”

Yes-hostage video can solve the problem. I'm pretty sure the boys at Guoan can figure this out. Once you start to waver in this way, it's all over.

On Sunday afternoon, the International Olympic Committee stated that President Thomas Bach and other officials had a pleasant half-hour Zoom chat with Ms. Peng. She was described as "relaxed". Obviously, when Mr. Bach appeared at the Olympics, they were all having dinner together.

So that's it. Until Ms. Peng wore a free Hong Kong T-shirt and held a press conference at the White House, some people would be satisfied, but China has created enough chaos here that the wave of anger has now become a wave of mild anger.

In all this, you can see the invisible hand of the International Olympic Committee at play. The Olympic bosses mentioned earlier that "quiet diplomacy" is the best way forward.

There is no reason to doubt the goodwill of the WTA to protect members of the tennis family. But this has never been about human rights, and it's not ashamed.

It's about negotiating until everyone gets what they want, everyone seems to have won, and everyone is constantly making money.

In our opinion, Ms. Peng’s video is somewhere between ridiculous and sinister. But in the bizarre hodgepodge of totalitarian regimes and multi-million dollar transactions, they succeeded.

If nothing else, this is a useful reminder for the rest of us. Our government is never perfect. But we can live in a place that does not move up and down, depending on who can profit and how the ruling party feels that day.

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