Netflix Pressured to Remove Spy Drama Episodes Over China Map

On Nov 1 the Philippines asked Netflix to remove episodes in season one of the spy drama “Pine Gap” because of a map showing China’s claims to the South China Sea. The Philippines second country to ask Netflix to do so after Vietnam.

The controversy comes because China has laid claim to most of the South China Sea. Waters within the so-called nine-dash line that’s featured on Chinese maps. Furthermore, the resource-rich waters are also contested by the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The Philippines foreign ministry said the China-made map depicted on the Netflix shows season one was in violation of the nation’s sovereignty.

The Philippines’ movie classification board has ruled that episodes in season one of Pine Gap were “unfit for public exhibition”, their Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

Netflix’s headquarters in the Philippines did not immediately to the Foreign Affairs ruling.

Earlier this year Netflix removed season one episodes of the “Pine Gap” from its services in Vietnam following a similar complaint from the country’s broadcast authorities.

The Philippine films board said that the appearance of the China-made map was “no accident”. Saying the map was consciously designed and calculated to specifically convey a message that China’s nine-dash line legitimately exists.

The film board believes that “such portrayal was an attempt to perpetuate and memorialize in the consciousness of the present generation of viewers and the generations to come to the illegal nine-dash line”.

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