How Do ‘Barbie’ and Blackpink Figure in a Dangerous Territorial Dispute?

Of all of the issues that might inflame tensions in a area that might sometime be a theater of warfare between superpowers, the film “Barbie” was not an apparent catalyst. Yet right here we’re.

The authorities in Vietnam this week banned the upcoming Greta Gerwig movie over a map in “Barbie” that they mentioned reveals a Chinese map of territory within the South China Sea, the place the 2 neighbors have competing claims.

The Philippines, one other Southeast Asian nation that disputes China’s territorial claims within the sea, is now deciding whether or not to ban the star-studded movie as properly. And Vietnam mentioned on Thursday that it was investigating a South China Sea map on the web site of an organization selling Blackpink, a Okay-pop band scheduled to carry out in Hanoi this month.

Taking such stands towards seemingly innocuous cultural exports might look to some like an overreaction. But Vietnam’s responses make extra sense if they’re seen inside historic and political contexts. Here’s a primer.

What is Vietnam’s beef with ‘Barbie’?

The head of the Vietnam Cinema Department, an company within the one-party state, mentioned on Monday that the Warner Bros. movie wouldn’t be launched domestically due to a scene that features the so-called nine-dash line — a map that seems on official Chinese paperwork and encircles a lot of the South China Sea.

The official, Vi Kien Thanh, didn’t say which scene Vietnam hadn’t appreciated. Several commentators puzzled if he meant the one exhibiting Barbie, performed by Margot Robbie, standing in entrance of a crudely drawn world map. Some additionally famous that the nine-dash line in that scene seems to lie very removed from Asia.

If that’s, certainly, the offending map, “I really can’t see what the fuss is about,” mentioned Bill Hayton, the writer of books on Vietnam and the South China Sea.

“The map in the film appears to bear no relation to a real map of the world,” Mr. Hayton added. “This looks like Vietnam’s censors trying to demonstrate their patriotism and usefulness to the regime.”

Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Neither did Warner Bros. The American film studio advised the Reuters news company on Thursday that the “Barbie” map of the South China Sea was a “childlike” drawing with no supposed significance.

Why is the South China Sea necessary to Vietnam?

Vietnam and China are neighbors with an awfully complicated relationship. On one hand, each are dominated by a Communist Party, making them ideological allies. They’re additionally busy buying and selling companions that share an 800-mile border.

Yet China occupied Vietnam for a millennium and invaded it as not too long ago as 1979. And below Xi Jinping, China’s highly effective chief, Beijing has constructed navy outposts on contested islands within the South China Sea. It additionally rejected a global tribunal’s landmark 2016 ruling that sided with the Philippines by saying that China’s expansive declare to sovereignty over the ocean had no authorized foundation.

The South China Sea, specifically, is so delicate that Vietnam and China got here dangerously near an precise battle there in 2014, after a Chinese firm parked an oil rig in disputed waters off the Vietnamese coast.

All of that contributes to a worry amongst many Vietnamese that China might sometime begin a warfare within the physique of water, which Vietnam calls the “East Sea.” Those considerations have helped form Vietnam’s latest efforts to counterbalance its relationship with China by constructing stronger ties with the United States and different nations.

This ‘Barbie’ ban appears to suit a sample.

Vietnamese censors have banned or altered a number of different motion pictures that confirmed disputed areas as being below Beijing’s management. The listing contains “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018), “Abominable” (2019) and “Uncharted” (2022), amongst others.

Why are Blackpink and the Philippines concerned?

The Philippines is contemplating banning “Barbie” earlier than its scheduled launch there on July 19, with authorities saying this week that the film was below evaluate. A Philippine senator, Francis N. Tolentino, mentioned that screening it could denigrate Philippine sovereignty.

Separately, a Vietnamese official mentioned this week that the nation’s Culture Ministry was attempting to confirm whether or not a Beijing-based Blackpink live performance promoter, iMe, helps the nine-dash line. The promoter additionally apologized for displaying a map of the nine-dash line on its web site, the Vietnamese news media reported.

The promoter’s Chinese web site was inaccessible on Friday. Its Korean department, together with Blackpink’s manufacturing firm, YG Entertainment, didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

As of Friday, Blackpink, a Okay-pop juggernaut, was nonetheless scheduled to carry out two reveals on the nationwide stadium in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital, in late July.

What’s the view in China and Vietnam?

The “Barbie” ban was broadly mentioned on-line in China this week, after the Foreign Ministry in Beijing criticized Vietnam on Tuesday for linking the South China Sea to “normal cultural exchange.” Many Chinese social media customers have been dismissive of the spat, saying that Hollywood would at all times select China over Vietnam.

By distinction, a couple of distinguished Vietnamese observers mentioned in interviews this week that their authorities’s “Barbie” ban was per earlier efforts to guard Vietnamese sovereignty within the sea, and partly a mirrored image of the Communist Party’s sensitivity to home criticism of its China coverage.

The “Barbie” ban was additionally profitable, they added, as a result of it received the worldwide news media speaking once more about Vietnam’s territorial grievances.

Chau Doan contributed reporting from Hanoi, Vietnam. Li You contributed analysis from Shanghai.