South China Sea: Philippines to allow Barbie movie but wants map blurred

Margot Robbie plays the lead in the Barbie movie

The Philippines has requested that a controversial map in the new Barbie movie be blurred, but it will allow the film to be screened.

The production was banned in Vietnam for allegedly showing the nine-dash line on a map.

The line is significant as it is used by China to assert its internationally rejected claims in the South China Sea.

But Philippines censors said they were convinced the map was just "cartoonish".

The Philippines Movie and Television Review and Classification Board said it reviewed the movie twice, and consulted both foreign affairs officials and legal experts.

It said it was convinced that the cartoon was, in fact, a "make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the 'real world'", which was an "integral part of the story".

The board added that the dashed lines drawn in a "child-like manner" were on several locations on the map, which it identified as Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Asia. But it noted only eight of those dashes were around the landmass labelled "Asia".

It also added that the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia are not visible on the map in a letter shared with reporters.

"This is in stark contrast to the maps found in the banned films 'Abominable (2019)' and 'Uncharted (2022)'," the letter read.

But it issued a stern warning to filmmakers, saying it would "not hesitate to sanction and/or ban films that exhibit 'the nine-dash-line'".

Last week, Warner Bros studio defended the scene, and said the map was a "child-like" drawing with no intended significance.

China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims in the South China Sea.

In recent years, Beijing has built military bases on artificial islands in the area, and often conducts naval patrols there in a bid to assert its territorial claims.

In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled against Chinese claims in the South China Sea, but Beijing did not recognise the judgement.

The approval of the movie coincided with the seven year anniversary of that ruling.

The fantasy film about the famous doll is directed by Greta Gerwig and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. It is set to open in the Philippines on 19 July.