It is possible, albeit unlikely, that the tennis star Peng Shuai, one of China’s most successful sportswomen, is safe, secure, and not subject to intimidation after several publicised appearances following weeks out of the public eye. Even if this is the case, how can anyone believe the version of events concocted by official mainland media? Is it any more credible than, for example, the forced confessions of wrongdoing by the abducted and jailed Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai? Or is it on a par with the coerced televised confession of the previously imprisoned former journalist Peter Humphre…