Vietnam Bans Release of Warner Bros' "Barbie" Film Over South China Sea Map

 Vietnam Bans Release of Warner Bros' "Barbie" Film Over South China Sea Map

Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig attend the red carpet promoting the upcoming film "Barbie" at the Warner Bros. Pictures Studio presentation during CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 25, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada.(Getty)

According to state media reports on Monday, Vietnam has prohibited the domestic distribution of Warner Bros' highly-anticipated film "Barbie" due to a scene displaying a map that includes China's unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea.

The U-shaped "nine-dash line," a symbol utilized in Chinese maps to assert its territorial rights over significant portions of the South China Sea, including areas that Vietnam considers part of its continental shelf and where it has granted oil concessions, is featured in the film.

This is not the first time a movie has been banned in Vietnam for depicting China's controversial nine-dash line. In 2019, the Vietnamese government pulled DreamWorks' animated film "Abominable," and last year, Sony's action movie "Uncharted" faced the same fate. Additionally, Netflix removed an Australian spy drama called "Pine Gap" in 2021 due to this issue.

"Barbie," starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was initially scheduled to release in Vietnam on July 21, the same date as in the United States, as reported by the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper.

Vi Kien Thanh, the head of the Department of Cinema, a government organization responsible for licensing and censoring foreign films, stated that the American movie "Barbie" would not be granted a license for release in Vietnam due to the inclusion of the offending image of the nine-dash line.

Warner Bros has not yet responded to a request for comment regarding this matter.

Vietnam and China have had longstanding overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, an area potentially rich in energy resources. The Southeast Asian country has repeatedly accused Chinese vessels of violating its sovereignty.