MANILA: The Philippines has pulled from cinemas the Hollywood film “Uncharted” over a scene showing a Beijing-endorsed map of the disputed South China Sea, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
The South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich waterway is claimed by China almost in its entirety while it is also contested by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The action film, starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg and released in the Philippines on Feb. 23, contains a two-second frame showing an image of the so-called nine-dash line, which China uses to illustrate its claims to the maritime region, through which an estimated $3.4 trillion in global trade travels each year.
“The nine-dash claim is contrary to national interest, which has been settled in the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“China also never had historic rights in the waters within the nine-dash line.”
The Philippines’ move comes after Vietnam banned the Sony flick last month over the same scene.
An international tribunal in The Hague dismissed China’s expansive claim to the South China Sea in 2016. Beijing did not recognize the ruling.
China argues that it enjoys historic rights over the waters and has asserted its claims by constructing and fortifying artificial islands in the region.
The Philippine foreign ministry said Sony’s Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. was ordered to stop screening the film unless and until it removed the objected scene.
It is not the first time popular culture has entered the South China Sea dispute.
The Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam banned the screening of DreamWorks’ animated feature “Abominable” in 2019 for showing China’s nine-dash line.
In 2021, the Philippines and Vietnam requested that Netflix take down episodes of the political drama “Pine Gap” for the same reason.
