Vietnam has banned the domestic distribution of the highly anticipated movie “Barbie” over a scene showing a map showing China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday.
Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was originally scheduled to open in Vietnam on July 21, the same date as in the United States, according to the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.
“We do not license the American film ‘Barbie’ to be released in Vietnam because it contains the offensive image of the nine-dash line,” the newspaper reported, citing Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Film, a government body. in charge of licensing and censoring foreign films.
The U-shaped “nine dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims to vast areas of the South China Sea, including swaths of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has granted oil concessions.
“Barbie” is the latest film to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to recognize the ruling.
In 2019, the Vietnamese government pulled DreamWorks’ animated film “Abominable” and last year banned Sony’s action film “Unchartered” for the same reason. Netflix also removed an Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” in 2021.
Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Vietnam and China have long had overlapping territorial claims to a potentially energy-rich stretch of the South China Sea. The Southeast Asian country has repeatedly accused Chinese ships of violating its sovereignty.
