Vietnam has banned the distribution of the film “Barbie” for including an image of a map with Chinese claims in disputed waters in the South China Sea, reported the local press today.
The Vietnam Express newspaper and other Vietnamese media said that the advertising posters for “Barbie” were removed from the websites of film distributors, after Monday’s decision.
With Margot Robbie in the role of Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, Greta Gerwig’s comedic film was due to premiere on July 21 in Vietnamese cinemas.
Vietnam Film Bureau Director General Vi Kien Thanh said the decision was made by the Vietnam Film Evaluation Board.
The film’s map shows China’s “line of nine dashes”, relating to Beijing’s sovereignty claims over most of the South China Sea, rejected by Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
In 2016, an international court ruled that the “nine-dash line” has no legal basis and that the Philippines was entitled to an exclusive economic zone in part of the area claimed by Beijing. China rejected the decision.
China claims that most of the South China Sea lies within the “nine dashes line”, used to demarcate what it considers to be the maritime boundary.
This assertion has led to tense standoffs between China and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines), with Chinese fishing boats and military ships becoming more aggressive. in disputed waters.
In 2019, Vietnam ordered the cancellation of the screening of “Abominable” after viewers complained about a scene that showed the “line of nine dashes”.
Philippine politicians called for a boycott of all releases by US production company DreamWorks in protest of the scene, and Malaysia ordered the scene cut from the film.
