The Vietnamese government is determined to prevent media that is shown in Vietnam from showing maps with a controversial nine-dash line on the South China Sea. The line represents China’s assertion that it has territorial rights to almost all of the sea, even areas near other countries that border it.
Global streaming platform Netflix has removed the Chinese-produced drama series “Flight to You” from its service in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government banned the series on similar grounds to its objection to the upcoming Warner Bros. film “Barbie.”
“As a result of the Vietnamese regulator banning elements of the series, we have removed ‘Flight to You’ from Netflix in Vietnam. It remains available on our service in other markets,” a Netflix spokesperson told Variety in an emailed statement.
According to Vietnam’s Cinema Department, the nine-dash line is depicted in episodes 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, and 38 of “Flight to You.”
Warner Brothers says that Vietnam is mistaken about “Barbie.” “The map in Barbie Land is a child-like crayon drawing,” says a spokesman for the studio. “The doodles depict Barbie’s make-believe journey from Barbie Land to the ‘real world.’ It was not intended to make any type of statement.”
