July 7, 2023
HANOI— The use of China’s nine-dash line map which Việt Nam considers to be an infringement of its territory and sovereignty in relation to two significant cultural phenomena was brought up prominently in the foreign ministry’s press briefing held in Hà Nội on Thursday.
The screening of the highly anticipated summer movie Barbie has been banned by the National Council for Film Appraisal and Classification for featuring scene(s) with the controversial map, while iMe Entertainment, the event organiser for the Hà Nội stop of the BlackPink World Tour 2023 at the end of July, is also in hot water over its alleged use of the map on its website.
As calls for a boycott started to rise on social media, Hà Nội Department of Culture and Sports has said it is working with the event organiser and verifying the case, but the website is currently not accessible.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Phạm Thu Hằng, stated that “the promotion and usage of products or publications featuring the nine-dash line in Việt Nam is in violation of the laws.”
Asked whether the concert might be cancelled over the issue, the foreign ministry spokesperson said the question will be referred to the relevant authorities.
Earlier on July 4, Hà Nội Department of Culture and Sports approved the shows scheduled to take place at Hà Nội’s Mỹ Đình National Stadium on July 29-30 as per the request documents filed by iMe Entertainment, based in HCM City.
Việt Nam has on multiple occasions rejected the nine-dash line map, which indicates China’s unilateral, controversial, and assertive claims over much of the resource-rich East Sea (known internationally as the South China Sea), covering even Việt Nam’s two island chains Trường Sa and Hoàng Sa as well as its continental shelf.
Việt Nam consistently stated that it has sufficient legal grounds and historical evidence to assert its territory and sovereignty over the East Sea as well as the two archipelagoes.
The Hague-based international arbitration court has also in its landmark ruling, released in 2016, repudiated China’s nine-dash line claims over the South China Sea under international law, a ruling that Việt Nam welcomed but China refused to recognise. — VNS