American movie "Barbie" banned in Vietnamese theaters because of illegal "cow tongue line"

On July 3, Mr. Vi Kien Thanh - Director of the Cinema Department said that the authorities banned the film from being shown because it contained the illegal "cow tongue line" scene.

The decision was made by the National Film Evaluation and Classification Board after a recent screening. The film was previously scheduled to be released domestically on July 21.

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Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the movie

According to the records, currently on the websites and fanpages of major cinema chains such as Galaxy and CGV, the film's showtimes and related content have been removed. A representative of Galaxy - the film distributor in Vietnam has not yet responded to the incident.

The movie "Barbie" has an investment budget of about 100 million USD, directed by Greta Gerwig, script by Noah Baumbach.

Actress Margot Robbie plays the Barbie doll, living in the world of Barbieland. One day, she is removed from this world , seeking happiness in the human world , with the companionship of Ken (Ryan Gosling).

Before "Barbie", many films were also handled by authorities for containing images of the nine-dash line. In March 2022, the film "Antiquities Hunter" was banned from showing in Vietnam for containing images of the nine-dash line.

In July 2021, Netflix Vietnam removed 6 episodes of "Pine gap" after authorities discovered illegal images and spoke up.

In July 2020, the above unit also removed images violating Vietnam's sovereignty over seas and islands in the film "To Our Warm Youth". In August 2020, the film "The Foreign Minister" also had similar violations.

In December 2019, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism fined CGV VND170 million for the nine-dash line image in the movie "Little Yeti". The movie was shown for 10 days before being pulled from theaters.

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On July 12, 2016, the International Court of Arbitration issued a ruling rejecting China's "cow tongue line" map of the East Sea.

The “cow tongue”, “U-shaped” or “broken” line... are all different names that scholars around the world use to refer to China’s claim to 80% of the East Sea area, drawn close to the shores of East Sea coastal countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.

This claim line originally had 11 segments, drawn by the Chinese government (Kuomintang) in 1947 and then continued to be used by the People's Republic of China but with modifications (2 segments in the Gulf of Tonkin were removed, so there are only 9 segments left).

This nine-dash line was rejected by the Arbitral Tribunal established under Annex VII of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in its 2016 ruling.

Tuoi Tre newspaper once quoted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang as saying that Vietnam's stance on the East Sea issue is clear and consistent.

Vietnam has sufficient legal basis and historical evidence to affirm its sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, as well as its sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction over maritime zones determined in accordance with the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Accordingly, Vietnam does not recognize any of China's maritime claims based on China's so-called "nine-dash line" in the East Sea.

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