Press tour of “Barbie” at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills.
Matt Winkelmeyer | Wireimage | beautiful pictures
Warner Bros movie “Barbie” banned from showing in Vietnam state mediaafter presenting a map of Beijing’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea.
The American live-action film is said to have a scene with a map showing a “nine-dash line”. This is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims to much of the South China Sea. Vietnam is just one of many countries that oppose those claims.
The territorial dispute was brought before the international court in The Hague in 2016, and led to the rejection of China’s claim to much of the South China Sea. But Beijing did not accept the ruling. The South China Sea is an important trade route connecting major trade arteries in Southeast Asia.
“Barbie” was set to hit Vietnamese theaters on July 21, the same day it was released in the US, but the ban caused cinemas to remove the film from the list of upcoming films, according to Tuoi Tre newspaper. .
Mr. Vi Kien Thanh, Director of the Vietnam Cinema Department, confirmed with the newspaper about this ban. CNBC was unable to independently verify the report.
“Barbie” is not the first film to be banned from showing in Vietnam because of the map image of the “nine-dash line”. Tom Holland’s 2022 film “Unchartered” was banned last year for the same reason, as was DreamWorks’ 2019 film “Abominable”.
