Netflix pulls Chinese drama Shine on Me after Vietnam outcry over disputed card

Netflix has removed a Chinese drama series from its Vietnamese platform after Hanoi objected to an episode featuring a map with disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The 27-episode romantic drama Shine on Me includes footage of the so-called nine-dash line that Vietnam has condemned as “inaccurate” and “undermining national sovereignty.”

China uses this line on its maps to demarcate its territorial claims in the South China Sea. Vietnam is one of several countries that oppose these claims.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture requested the series’ removal on January 3 and gave Netflix 24 hours to comply.

A BBC check revealed on Tuesday that it was no longer possible to watch on Netflix’s Vietnamese platform.

The controversial map appears several times in episode 25 of Shine On Me, in a scene about China’s solar potential.

The show’s main characters attend a conference where a map of China showing part of the nine-dash line is projected on an auditorium screen.

Shine On Me is popular in China and other territories, ranking among Netflix’s top 10 shows in Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam before its removal.

Beijing has not officially commented on the ban, although its official Global Times newspaper published an article on Tuesday urging Hanoi to “separate cultural exchanges from cultural exchanges”. [the] South China Sea problem.

In recent years, China has increasingly asserted its claims to sovereignty over several parcels of land and their adjacent waters in the South China Sea, despite complaints from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

Beijing has enlarged some islands, built structures there and conducted maritime patrols that sometimes resulted in heated clashes with the Philippine navy.

China argues that various pieces of evidence, from pottery shards to navigation guides used by Chinese fishermen, support its claims to historical sovereignty.

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

The dispute between Beijing and Hanoi focuses particularly on the Paracel and Spratly island chains, around which the nine-dash line loops on Chinese maps.

China says its right to this region dates back centuries, to when these island chains were considered an integral part of the Chinese nation.

Vietnam strongly disputes this claim, saying China never claimed sovereignty over the South China Sea islands before the 1940s.

Hanoi claims it has actively ruled the Paracel and Spratly archipelagos since the 17th century and has the documents to prove it.

There are many issues that could cause an uproar in the Vietnamese public – including what citizens consider insulting depictions of the Vietnam War – but the nine-dash line consistently attracts the attention of authorities.

On most other issues, the Vietnamese government actively works to contain anti-China sentiment, but criticism asserting Hanoi’s claims to the South China Sea is one of the few forms of protest it finds acceptable.

Between 2019 and 2024, Vietnam filed eight written takedown requests from Netflix, according to the streaming platform’s reports.

In 2023, Vietnam had also ordered Netflix to remove another Chinese drama, Flight to You, on a similar card.

Chinese dramas are not the only productions to be banned by Vietnam for featuring a nine-dash line.

Prohibited authorities Barbie, the Hollywood blockbuster from Warner Bros. in 2023, and the DreamWorks animated film Abominable in 2016, for similar reasons.

Additional reporting from Sen Nguyen in Bangkok