It's still impossible to know if Peng Shuai is actually safe, says journalist who conducted her first interview with Western media since disappearing

• On Monday, Peng Shuai's first interview with the Western media since she disappeared was published.
• The highly controlled interview with L'Equipe was conducted in front of a Chinese Olympic official.

One of the journalists who conducted Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai's first interview with the Western media since she disappeared in November has said it is "impossible" to say if she is truly safe.

Peng vanished from the public eye for almost three weeks after making allegations on the Chinese social-media network Weibo that former the Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli had sexually assaulted her.

She has since made only a handful of what appear to be carefully controlled public appearances. Among those appearances is an interview with French newspaper L'Equipe, which was published on Monday.

In the interview, which was conducted in the presence of a Chinese Olympic official who also translated for Peng, the tennis player retracted her accusations against Gaoli, calling the situation "an enormous misunderstanding."

"Sexual assault? I never said anyone had sexually assaulted me in any way," said Peng.

Marc Ventouillac, one of two L'Equipe journalists who spoke to Peng, has now said he remains unsure if she is safe.

"It's impossible to say," he told the Associated Press. "It's a part of communication, propaganda, from the Chinese Olympic Committee."

He added: "It's important, I think, for the Chinese Olympic Committee, for the Communist Party and for many people in China to try to show: 'No, there is no Peng Shuai affair.'"

Ventouillac said that Peng "seems to be healthy."

Organized through China's Olympic Committee with help from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), L'Equipe agreed to send questions in advance and publish Peng's responses in question-and-answer form.

A Chinese Olympic official sat in on the discussion, translating Peng's comments from Chinese. The newspaper then used an interpreter in Paris to ensure the accuracy of the comments that it published in French on Monday. It was her first sit-down discussion with non-Chinese-language media since the accusation.

"There was no censorship in the questions," he said.

"She answered our questions without hesitating — with, I imagine, answers that she knew. She knew what she was going to say," Ventouillac said. "But you can't know whether it was formatted or something. She said what we expected her to say."

On the same day as her interview with L'Equipe was published, Peng was seen in the crowd watching the team figure-skating event.

On Tuesday, she was then pictured in the stands watching China's Eileen Gu win gold in the women's big-air competition.

She wore a face mask, a black knit hat with the Olympic rings on it, and a black coat with the Chinese flag on it. At one point during the event, she sat next to IOC president Thomas Bach, with whom she met for dinner on Saturday.

Following her interview with L'Équipe and her subsequent public appearances, Steve Simon, the chair of the Women's Tennis Association, said in a statement that he and the organization were still concerned about Peng.

"It's always good to see Peng Shuai, whether in an interview or attending the Olympic Games," wrote Simon, who has previously been outspoken about Peng's situation.

"However, her recent in-person interview does not alleviate any of our concerns about her initial post from November 2.

"We continue to hold firm on our position and our thoughts remain with Peng Shuai."