The arbitration case the Philippines filed in the United Nations’ arbitral tribunal seeking to invalidate China’s nine-dash line claim to nearly all of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) is moving along, with the body soon expected to rule on the matter of jurisdiction over the case.
MANILA, Philippines — American action film “Uncharted” was pulled out from Philippine cinemas on the request of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) over a scene that featured an image of China’s nine-dash line, the DFA said Wednesday.
In a statement, the DFA said Beijing’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea is “contrary to national interest.”
The DFA said it requested the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to pull out the screening of the film from cinemas in the country.
In its response to the department, the MTRCB said it had “ordered Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. to cease and desist from exhibiting the said motion picture, unless and until they are able to remove the objectionable scenes,” according to the DFA.
“MTRCB further reported that Columbia has since complied with its order and has pulled out the movie from the cinemas,” the DFA added.
This is not the first time that the DFA requested to prohibit the screening of a Hollywood movie which has a scene featuring China’s nine-dash line.
In 2019, the DFA also requested the MTRCB to pull out animated feature “Abominable” over a scene which showed China’s nine-dash line.
“The nine-dash claim is contrary to national interest, which has been settled in the 2016 Arbitral Award,” the DFA stressed.
Manila and Beijing have been locked in a long-standing maritime dispute.
In 2013, the Philippines filed a case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague in the Netherlands challenging China’s sweeping claim of nearly the entire South China Sea, including parts of the West Philippine Sea.
READ: PH wins arbitration case over South China Sea
The PCA ruled in favor of the Philippines in July 2016 invalidating China’s nine-dash line claim. Beijing has repeatedly refused to recognize the ruling.
“The Arbitral Tribunal held that China’s nine-dash line has no legal basis as its accession to UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) has extinguished any of its rights that it may have had in the maritime areas in the South China Sea,” the DFA went on.
“China also never had historic rights in the waters within the nine-dash line,” it added.