Vietnam bans Barbie movie for showing South China Sea map

Vietnam has banned Warner Bros’ movie Barbie from domestic distribution, for a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday.

The nine-dash line is used on Chinese maps to highlight its claims over areas of the South China Sea, including areas Vietnam considers its continental shelf.

Vietnam and China have been in conflict over territorial claims to a potentially energy-rich stretch in the South China Sea, with Vietnam repeatedly accusing Chinese vessels of violating its sovereignty.

“We do not grant licence for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to be released in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line,” the state run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of Cinema.

Barbie is not the first movie to be banned in Vietnam for featuring China’s controversial nine-dash line map, with the government banning DreamWorks’s Abominable in 2019, Sony’s Uncharted in 2022, and Netflix removing Australian drama, Pine Gap in 2021.

The nine-dash line has been repudiated in an international arbitration ruling by a court in the Hague in 2016, while China refuses to recognise the ruling.