After Vietnam’s ban, Warner Bros. claims that the world map in the “Barbie” movie is a “childlike drawing”

Days after Vietnam announced it would ban the movie over the map, Warner Bros studio claimed on Thursday that a map of the South China Sea in its forthcoming “Barbie” movie is a “child-like” painting with no intended meaning.

According to official media on Monday, Vietnam objected to a portion of the map that depicts China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea. It made the decision to forbid domestic release of the much awaited Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling movie.

Warner Bros thought the map was innocuous.

According to the studio, “Barbie Land’s map is a playful, kid-like crayon painting. The drawings show Barbie’s imaginary voyage from Barbie Land to the outside world. It wasn’t meant to be a statement of any kind.

According to the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper, “Barbie” was initially planned to debut in Vietnam on July 21, the same day as in the United States.

The publication said that the so-called nine-dash line was included on a scenario that Vietnamese officials found objectionable. On Chinese maps, the U-shaped line is used to represent China’s claims to substantial portions of the South China Sea, including sections of what Vietnam claims to be its continental shelf and places where it has granted oil concessions.

Vi Kien Thanh, chairman of the Department of Cinema, a government agency in charge of licensing and regulating foreign films, was quoted in the newspaper as saying, “We do not grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the nine-dash line.”

For showing China’s nine-dash line, which was rejected in an international arbitration decision by a court in The Hague in 2016, “Barbie” is the most recent movie to be banned in Vietnam. China refuses to accept the judgment.

Ahead of the group’s performance in Hanoi this week, Vietnam also launched an inquiry into the Blackpink tour organizer’s website in response to complaints from fans that it depicts a map of the South China Sea with disputed borders.