Shanghai (AFP)

The NBA stars will play well on Thursday night in Shanghai: despite the crisis with China, born of a controversial tweet about Hong Kong, the North American basketball league confirmed the holding of an exhibition match in the city Chinese.

The superstar LeBron James should be on the floor with his team of Los Angeles Lakers to face the Brooklyn Nets at this meeting which will begin at 19:30 local (11:30 GMT).

NBA franchises travel to China every year before the start of the season to boost the already huge popularity of the North American league in the Asian country, where basketball is king.

The crisis began Friday after a tweet from Houston Rockets' Texas franchise general manager, Daryl Morey, who expressed support for the Hong Kong protesters.

Hong Kong is an ex-British colony returned to China in 1997 and now autonomous territory. It has been shaken since June by increasingly violent demonstrations that require more autonomy in the face of Beijing's growing control.

The government and many Chinese netizens expressed dissatisfaction after Mr Morey's tweet, perceived as a challenge to the country's territorial integrity.

Since then, CCTV public television has canceled the broadcast of Thursday's match and that of another meeting Lakers-Nets scheduled Saturday in Shenzhen (south). Chinese sponsors have also cut ties with the NBA.

On Wednesday, employees of the Mercedes-Benz room in Shanghai, where the meeting will be disputed, were seen removing posters and logos, leaving some doubt about the holding of the event.

"The match will take place," said Thursday afternoon to AFP a representative of the NBA, but without confirming the holding of that of Saturday.

At the beginning of the crisis, the league had indicated in a statement to be "deeply disappointed by the inappropriate remarks" of the leader of the Rockets.

But the institution, lambasted by US officials for these words seeming to be right in Beijing, then said Tuesday, through the voice of his boss Adam Silver, she would not apologize and continue to support "the freedom of expression".

- 'We can not live without the NBA' -

To add to the pressure, a group of eight US parliamentarians on Wednesday urged the NBA in an open letter to suspend all its activities in China, until broadcasters and Chinese companies give up their boycott.

"It is not unreasonable to expect American companies to pass on our fundamental democratic rights before their profits," says the text - signed by Democrats and Republicans.

If doubt hangs over the exhibition matches, a potential suspension of the broadcasting of the NBA season in China is not currently on the agenda.

Such a decision would be difficult to cash for Chinese fans, the North American Basketball League was probably the most followed sports championship in the country.

Evidence of the enthusiasm of some supporters, many were seen trying to see LeBron James in Shanghai, according to a video posted on the social network Weibo and Thursday was one of the most watched in the country.

The comments were mostly negative. "I do not understand, they could not refrain from doing that in a moment like this?" Asked one user. "Americans say you can not live without the NBA, it turns out they're right ... it's really shame," said another.

On Wednesday, Apple found itself in the People's Daily's viewfinder, the main organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), about an app that allowed Hong Kong protesters to locate police officers on a map.

The American giant quickly responded to criticism and withdrew Thursday the offending application.

© 2019 AFP