Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling's Barbie film banned in Vietnam over South China Sea map

Warner Bros' highly-anticipated movie Barbiehas been banned by the Vietnamese government over a scene featuring a map that shows China's unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea. The map depicts the controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to recognise the ruling.

In 2019, DreamWorks’ animated film Abominablewas banned from domestic distribution in Vietnam and last year, the action movie Uncharteredwas banned for a similar reason.

"We do not grant a license for the American movie Barbieto release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line," local media cited Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema, a government body in charge of licensing and censoring foreign films.

China uses the U-shaped "nine-dash line" in maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.

Southeast Asian countries like China, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Taiwan have had disputes over the contentious region for centuries. The two primary points of contention remain the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands. Vietnam has repeatedly accused Chinese vessels of violating its sovereignty around those regions.

Warner Bros is yet to comment on the decision.

Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was originally slated to release in Vietnam on July 21.

(With inputs from agencies)

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