The [Women's Tennis Association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Tennis_Association) (WTA) [announced](https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2384758/steve-simon-announces-wta-s-decision-to-suspend-tournaments-in-china) it is cancelling "all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong" based on recent events surrounding [Peng Shuai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peng_Shuai).

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> **Long before #PengShuai’s case, WTA has suspended all tournaments in China and Japan due to COVID19 restriction.**  
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> [Shen Shiwei 沈诗伟](https://twitter.com/shen_shiwei/status/1466319323753062402), 2 December 2021 ([screenshot](https://i.stack.imgur.com/lyxiQ.png) taken 7 December 2021).
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Shen Shiwei has been quoted in outlets in relation to Peng Shuai, such as the [NY Post](https://nypost.com/2021/11/20/video-photos-emerge-of-missing-chinese-tennis-star-peng-shuai/) and CNN [1](https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/02/tennis/peng-shuai-ioc-second-call-intl-spt/index.html); [2](https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/06/tennis/peng-shuai-itf-not-suspending-tournaments-intl-spt/index.html) (although not about this precise claim, to my knowledge).

Shen Shiwei screenshots the webpage:

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> ST PETERSBURG, FL, USA – The WTA has announced further updates to the 2021 Tour calendar. **Due to continued COVID-19 concerns and travel restrictions in China and Japan, the WTA tournaments traditionally scheduled in Chinese Mainland and Japan will not operate this year.** This applies to all events except for the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, which is still under discussion.  
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> [WTA ANNOUNCES 2021 CALENDAR UPDATE](https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2182462/wta-announces-2021-calendar-update), 1 July 2021, viewed 7 December 2021.
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While the WTA's website doesn't fully support the claim, it does raise the possibility that cancelling events in China could be predominately or entirely because of COVID-19, and not in relation to Peng Shuai. So...

**Question**: Were the Chinese tennis events cancelled by the WTA in relation to Peng Shuai already cancelled because of COVID-19?