Ex-Beijing official accused of sexually assaulting Peng Shuai attends Xi speech

• Peng's accusation was politically unacceptable because under President Xi Jinping, only the party is allowed to police its own members. By allowing Zhang to appear at Beijing's most important event in five years, the party is sending a message that it is impervious to outside criticism.

Details: Images showed Zhang sitting alongside other retired and current Communist Party leaders in the front row of the podium as Xi gave his speech.

The big picture: Zhang has never publicly commented on the allegations that Peng made in a social media post last November — which prompted the Women's Tennis Association to suspend all tournaments in China as the WTA and others raised concerns about her well-being.

• Peng briefly vanished after making the allegations and denied the claims after reappearing in public — raising concerns that she'd been pressured by China's ruling party.