NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum responded to Blackburn’s letter Tuesday, writing that the league “has had no involvement with the Xinjiang basketball academy for more than a year, and the relationship has been terminated.”

Blackburn praised the league’s decision to “abandon its footprint in Xinjiang,” calling it “the right way to condemn Chinese oppression.” The GOP senator, however, criticized Tatum’s response to scrutiny over the league’s relationship with Chinese tech giant Alibaba, which Blackburn described as a “state-owned enterprise.”

Tatum revealed that the league has a “multi-year contractual relationship” with the company and downplayed its ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), noting that “Alibaba is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and most shares are held by institutional investors.” Alibaba’s founder and former chairman, Jack Ma, is a CCP member. Blackburn said the league’s continued partnership with the company “remains a cause for concern.”