8/14/2008 Beijing/Madrid, August 14th, 2008. Due to the controversy that has arisen in the press because of a gesture made by the Spanish men´s basketball team in an advertisement photo taken before the Olympic Games in Beijing (which imitates the slanted eyes that the Spanish culture affectionately identifies with Asians in general and Chinese people in particular), the Spanish Basketball Federation feels the need to express the following:
1. That, as the immense majority of the Spanish and international general public have fortunately understood, and as the embassy of the People´s Republic of China in Spain has corroborated, that the only significance of said gesture was one of affection, friendliness and recognition, which is what this Federation feels for the people of China and their country.
2. That the FEB has maintains a now long relationship with basketball in the People´s Republic of China, and is committed to its development, which is highly reflected in the tight collaboration found in referee, player and coach training, as in the regular visits that the different teams of the Chinese Basketball Federation have to our country, as they are invited by the FEB to compete and prepare for their international competitions.
3. That beyond athletic relationships, the FEB has been one of the first Federations in the world to maintain commercial relationships with Chinese institutions and businesses, such as the athletic shoe and apparel company Li-Ning, which is one of the oldest agreements that the FEB has. Molten and Lenovo are other Asian companies that collaborate with the FEB, the first of the which has already dedicatedly contributed to the biggest success in Spanish basketball history, two years ago when the world championship medal was conquered in 2006, in Japan precisely.
For these reasons, the FEB considers that this controversy, which is completely gratuitous, was generated in bad faith by some members of the press who wanted to harm not only the FEB´s image, yet also the image of our country and our sport, so we therefore reserve the right to take appropriate legal action in order to safeguard it.
Once this press release has been published, the FEB considers the topic closed, and will not make any further declarations regarding the situation.
Chinese embassy in Madrid, also states that "we don't consider an offense to chinese citizens nor a racist sign the picture of the spanish basketball team. And I'm sure it's not been interpreted as an offense neither at China".
Some people in Spain says that "let's allow the China national team to make a picture dressed as bullfighters"