Vietnam bans screening of movie 'Barbie'... "Displeased by China's South China Sea claims included"

China's Claim of Territorial Waters with the South China Sea Nine-Dash Line
"Includes an Unpleasant Nine-Dash Line Image"

The movie 'Barbie,' starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has been banned from screening in Vietnam.

A scene from the movie 'Barbie'
[Photo by Warner Bros. Korea on YouTube]

On the 3rd (local time), BBC reported that Vietnamese authorities have prohibited the domestic distribution of Warner Bros.' new release 'Barbie.' Vi Kien Thanh, the director of the Film Department responsible for licensing and censorship of foreign films, stated, "The movie 'Barbie' was not permitted to be released in Vietnam because it contains an image of the nine-dash line that causes discomfort."

The nine-dash line refers to the U-shaped line drawn by China claiming 90% of the South China Sea (referred to as the East Sea by Vietnam) as its territorial waters. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, ruled that the nine-dash line has no legal basis, but China declared it would not accept the ruling.

China's claimed territorial waters marked by a virtual baseline (in red)

This is not the first time the Vietnamese government has banned a film due to the nine-dash line. Last year, the action movie 'Uncharted,' starring Tom Holland, was banned because it featured a map with the nine-dash line. In 2019, CGV Vietnam screened the movie 'Abominable' but halted the screening after 10 days for the same reason and was fined 17 million dong (approximately 930,000 KRW).

Meanwhile, the movie 'Barbie' was scheduled to be released in Vietnam on the 21st. 'Barbie' tells the story of 'Barbie,' who lived in 'Barbieland,' where she could be anything she wanted, discovering a portal rift connected to the real world and embarking on an unexpected journey with 'Ken' to resolve it.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.