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DreamWorks bootlicks China with '9-dash line' including Taiwan in 'Abominable'

DreamWorks kowtows to China with '9-dash line' that includes Taiwan in 'Abominable,' Vietnam bans flick

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(Screenshot of scene from Reddit)

(Screenshot of scene from Reddit)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The cash-craving executives at DreamWorks have seen fit to include China's fictitious "nine-dash line" in its latest animated film "Abominable," taking great pains to include Taiwan within the fabricated dashes, spurring Vietnam to yank the film from its theaters.

In the latest example of Hollywood censoring itself and bowing to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) every command for the sake of a few extra Renminbi, DreamWorks in a joint production with Shanghai-based Pearl Studio bizarrely included a scene showing a map of Asia with an exaggerated version of the nine-dash line. The map comes complete with a depiction of Taiwan enclosed by what is technically the latest "10-dash line" issued by Beijing in 2013.

UN tribunals have on repeated occasions ruled against the territorial claims that China calls the "cow’s tongue" or the nine-dash line, a presumptuous assertion that the entire South China Sea is Chinese territory. As the line covers a vast swath of ocean just off the coast of Vietnam, the Southeast Asian nation, among others, disputes the validity of the boundary.

The film, which tells the tale of a Chinese girl who finds an abominable snowman on her roof, first hit theaters in Vietnam on Oct. 4, and the controversial scene containing the map quickly drew the ire of Vietnamese audiences, who shared screenshots on social media. The Vietnamese government swiftly moved to yank the film from theaters with Ta Quang Dong, deputy minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announcing "We will revoke [the film's license]," according to the newspaper Thanh Nien.

Nguyen Thu Ha, the head of Vietnam's Cinema Department, took the blame for missing the controversial scene, saying "I will claim responsibility" and promising that her department would be "more prudent in the future," reported Thanh Nien. Vietnamese moviegoers were incensed, with images of a red "X" scrawled over the nine-dash line map shared extensively on social media.

Facebook user Pham Tan Phong wrote, "Please sack the person in charge of censorship for this movie." Another Facebook user wrote, "We cannot accept these blatant acts, especially regarding sensitive things like the current sea disputes."

Users of the Taiwan section on Reddit called for a boycott of DreamWorks for kowtowing to the CCP:

"China's ten dash line map, gotta add another dash to make sure everyone knows Taiwan belongs to China. F*** DreamWorks, I'm going to actually start boycotting these companies rather than just saying I will..."

"I will definitely boycott massive western companies adopting CCP propaganda and policies that I disagree with including their f***ed up stance on the South China Sea."

Another comment on the thread explained China's lack of a legitimate legal claim to the region and the fickle nature of the dashes, which are based on China's "contemporary interest."

"Just to add in some more information: this dashed line has no technical definition, no legal basis, no temporal consistency. It has been modified several times to reflect China's contemporary interest, where in the last change they just added a dash to claim Taiwan."