• World

    • Vietnam ‘looking into’ Blackpink concert organizer over South China Sea map

    By on July 7, 2023

    Vietnam is investigating “an incident” involving the organizer of a Blackpink concert in Hanoi, the government has said, after social media users complained its website featured a map showing China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. K-pop megastar girl group Blackpink is due to host two concerts in the Vietnamese capital in late July. News of the performance has generated a huge amount of excitement in the city, which rarely hosts big-name international artists.

    But early this week, reports surfaced on social media saying iME, a Beijing-based event and entertainment company, used a map on the front page of its official website featuring the “nine-dash line”. China has long used the line to illustrate its expansive claims over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, often to the displeasure of Hanoi, which also claims parts of the waterway. Some Facebook and TikTok users demanded a boycott of the concerts.

    On the Blackpink Vietnam FC (fan club) Facebook page, one comment read: “In support of Vietnam, we’d better… not attend entertainment shows organized by iME.” Another read: “This concerns the territorial claim of a country. Although I like Blackpink, we should raise our voice.” Tickets are due to go on sale on Friday. The ministry of culture and information said Wednesday it was starting “procedures to look into the incident”.

    On Thursday, ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said she was “aware that relevant authorities were trying to clarify these claims”, admitting that Blackpink’s Vietnam show had become a “hot-button issue”. On Thursday, the company’s website was “under maintenance”. iME Vietnam did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by AFP.

    Earlier this week, Vietnam authorities said they had banned the upcoming “Barbie” movie from cinemas over scenes showing the same map. The South China Sea is home to valuable oil and gas deposits and shipping lanes, and several of China’s neighbors have voiced concern that Beijing is seeking to expand its reach.—AFP

    more recommended stories

    Terms of Use:

  • This website Arabian Daily is an individual’s property, not used for any commercial or sales purposes. What you see here are one’s random thoughts in action. I, by no means, endorse any product or party through this, unless stated explicitly.
  • All work you will find here is copyrighted unless stated otherwise. No part of this work can be reproduced in any way with the exception of a) if you share our work, it should link back to this website; b) if you quote any part of our work, it should be properly credited to us with a link to this website.
  • All images used on this website have been taken from open source image websites on the Internet. If any of them are copyrighted to you and you want us to take them down or add credits, please feel free to contact us here, or by using the contact form on this page.
  • The views expressed on Arabian Daily are solely ours. They do not represent any party or any particular school of thought. This website does not promote racism in any form.
  • Privacy Policy:
    This website will respect the readers’ and the writer’s privacy. We do not sell any of their personal or contact information to another company. We do not put your information on spam lists. Also, and more importantly, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of any of our advertisers or website commenters.
  • Reserve Rights: We reserve the right to change the focus on this website, to shut it down, sell it or to change the terms of use at our own discretion.