Vietnam demands Netflix to remove Chinese drama over map dispute
What's the story
Netflix Inc. and FPT Telecom will take down the Chinese drama, Flight to You in Vietnam after Hanoi's assertion that the show violated sovereignty laws.
The drama depicted a disputed map that portrayed islands in the South China Sea as non-Vietnamese territory.
This incident comes after Vietnam took action to ban Greta Gerwig's upcoming movie, Barbie due to similar controversy surrounding the world map.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, the Phillippines, and Taiwan are sensitive to misrepresentation of the nine-dash line, which became the basis for Vietnam to restrict foreign entertainment.
Notably, Beijing has claimed a significant portion of the South China Sea, basing its assertion on the U-shaped nine-dash line, which encompasses up to 90% of the region.
The conflicting territorial claims have fueled ongoing tensions.
Report
24 hours given to remove show from platform serving Vietnam
Per reports, Vietnam's culture ministry determined that despite Netflix blurring the map, the drama still contained "inappropriate content that violated the country's sovereignty laws."
The department conducted a review and found that the nine-dash line map appeared in various scenes across nine episodes.
As a result, the department instructed Netflix to remove the show from the platform serving Vietnam within 24 hours, starting Monday.
Past incident
Vietnam banned 'Uncharted' over a disputed map in 2022
In 2022, Vietnam banned Sony and actor Tom Holland's action-adventure movie, Uncharted as the film showcased a scene featuring the controversial nine-dash line map.
"The film was banned from distribution after we watched it and found it contained an illegal image of the infamous nine-dash line," the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported, quoting Vi Kien Thanh—head of the country's Cinema Department.
Details
Other times when Vietnam's government, foreign entertainment were at odds
These are not the only times when Vietnam has taken measures to block content from its screens.
In 2019, DreamWorks's film Abominable was banned from cinemas in Vietnam because of the disputed map.
Additionally, Netflix was asked to take down certain episodes of Pine Gap due to the same map issue.
It appears that companies need to exercise caution when dealing with Vietnam's regulations.