Sony action movie “Uncharted” was banned from distribution in Vietnam over a scene featuring the infamous disputed line declared by China to illegally claim huge swaths of the South China Sea, known in Vietnam as an East Sea state media reported Saturday.
The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over large areas of the resource-rich South China Sea, including swathes of of what Vietnam sees as son continental shelf, where it awarded oil concessions.
“Uncharted”, an action and adventure film based on a video game series on the treasure hunt, met starring Tom Holland and was to hit theaters nationwide on March 18.
“The film was banned from distribution after we watched it and found it contained an illegal image of the infamous nine-dash line,” saysrun Vietnam News Agency reported, quoting Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Department of cinema, a government body in load of licensing and censorship of foreign films.
Vietnam has withdrawn DreamWorks animated film “Abominable” released in cinemas in 2019 and ordered Netflix in 2021 to delete some episodes of the “Pin Gap” series over the same issue.
The Southeast Asian country protested this week twice over military exercises by China and Taiwan in what it describes as its exclusive economic zone, and demanded that they respect Vietnam’s sovereignty and legitimate rights at sea.
