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HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) – Following a complaint from broadcast authorities in Vietnam regarding the display of a map depicting Chinese claims in the South China Sea, Netflix Inc has deleted the Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” from its services in the Southeast Asian country. The map illustrates China’s unilaterally announced “nine-dash line” and is exhibited in the context of maritime claims in the region. It appears briefly on the screens of a control room at a spy base in two episodes of the six-part show. The Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information declared on its website that Netflix’s infringement “enraged and injured the sensibilities of the entire Vietnamese people.” “Netflix has been found to distribute movies and TV episodes containing content that violates Vietnam’s sovereignty for the third time in the last 12 months,” added the statement, dated July 1. The “nine-dash line” is a U-shaped feature on Chinese maps that depicts the country’s disputed claims to enormous swaths of the resource-rich South China Sea, including substantial swaths of what Vietnam considers their continental shelf, where oil concessions have been granted. In recent years, Chinese and Vietnamese ships have been involved in months-long standoffs in the contested waters. Netflix stated that the show had been taken down in Vietnam, but that it was still available elsewhere on the service. “Following a written legal demand from the Vietnamese regulator, we have withdrawn the licensed series Pine Gap from Netflix in Vietnam,” a Netflix spokeswoman stated. In October 2019, Vietnam banned DreamWorks’ animated feature “Abominable” from theaters because to a scene depicting the “nine-dash line” on a comparable map. The other two episodes that the Vietnamese broadcasting regulator had identified as difficulties with Netflix were “Put Your Head on My Shoulder,” a 2019 Chinese rom-com, and “Madam Secretary,” a US political drama. On Friday, “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” was still available on Netflix, but “Madam Secretary” was not./nRead More

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