Barbie movie banned in Vietnam for scene over South China Sea map
By Nicola Smith
July 3rd, 2023
Vietnam has banned the upcoming Barbie movie over a scene showing controversial Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The “offending image” depicts the U-shaped “nine-dash line”, which is featured on Chinese maps that illustrate Beijing’s disputed assertions to vast areas of the resource-rich waters, including a large section of what Hanoi considers to be its continental shelf.
In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled against Beijing’s claims but there are no clear mechanisms to enforce the arbitration ruling and China refuses to recognise it.
