Many people probably thought it would be canceled, but yesterday the preseason match was played between the LA Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets in Shanghai. The match was sparked by major protests and large poster banners for the game were picked down in Shanghai. The reason was a tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressing his support for the government-critical protests in Hong Kong.

China's ambassador to Sweden, Congyou Gui, thinks Daryl Morey's tweet is part of a historic Western colonialism in China

- All words and deeds supporting Hong Kong separatism are salty in China's colonial wounds and will not be accepted by any of China's 1.4 billion people, the ambassador told SVT Sport

300 million basketball players in China

Basketball in general and the NBA in particular are huge in China. According to government figures, there are around 300 million active basketball players in the country. According to Chinese streaming company Tencent, more than half a billion Chinese watched an NBA match last season.

You talk about China's 1.4 billion people. Basketball is a huge sport in China, do you really think everyone agrees with the Chinese state's position in this?

- We only boycott the Houston Rockets led by Daryl Morey who does not respect China's territorial integrity. We welcome those teams that are not involved in China's political affairs with open arms, ”says Congyou Gui.

Despite the game being finally played between the Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets, the ambassador thinks the conflict is not over.

- If Daryl Morey does not take action and admit his wrong behavior publicly and does not sincerely apologize to the entire Chinese people, he will not get away with it, Congyou Gui concludes.