Boycott movies with actors supporting the 'cow tongue line'

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Xuan Thach

According to the website of CJ CGV Company, the movie Mulan is expected to be released in Vietnam in March 2020. The movie has the main character played by actress Liu Yifei. This actress is among dozens of Chinese artists who have publicly declared their support for the "cow tongue line" map that China (China) uses to illegally claim sovereignty over the East Sea.

* Do you think Vietnamese audiences should welcome movies with Liu Yifei in the main role? Why?

- In every artist there are always two halves, the artist and the citizen, and these two halves do not always go together. It is not just Liu Yifei or Chinese artists. It is important to remember that during the Vietnam War, if Jane Fonda went to Hanoi in the spirit of supporting North Vietnam, John Steinback supported the American war against the Vietnamese people.

Of course, political naivety must be distinguished from a cognitive paralysis and blind adherence to an institution regardless of its wrongness, which Hannah Arendt said leads to the banality of evil.

In my opinion, Liu Yifei is just an average actress (in every sense). She makes films as an artist and her films have nothing to do with Beijing's wrongdoings in the South China Sea. But when she supports those wrongdoings, we also need to have a cultural self-defense.

Cultural self-defense means that if the Chinese use soft power to influence and spread wrong views about the territory, we also need to have “soft” measures to respond. Boycott products with wrong content or related to individuals who support these wrong views. In addition, we need to severely punish those who smuggle “smuggled, toxic goods” into the country.

* If there is an opinion that Liu Yifei participated in Mulan as an actress and not as a politician, this film may not support the “cow tongue line” and therefore need to be banned or boycotted. What do you think about that opinion?

- Remember, Liu Yifei supports Beijing's unreasonable demands as an artist, not as a civilian. So as Vietnamese people, we need to oppose that position, at least on our territory, so that she cannot use her position as an artist to repeat similar actions.

It is a way to send a message to those who want to “plant” dark purposes into seemingly harmless products that we are aware of their intentions and we do not accept it.

That is also the way to neutralize Beijing's ambitions. I believe that our actions can become a model of behavior for the region. Look at how the Philippines and Malaysia reacted to China's film with the nine-dash line after Vietnam's reaction. And when our behavior becomes a model, then its power will increase.

* Unofficial information indicates that CJ CGV may be the distributor of Mulan. This distributor is also the one that made the mistake of releasing Operation Red Sea and Everest - The Little Yeti to theaters in Vietnam. What do you think CJ CGV should do in the case of Mulan?

- I think the recent punishment for CJ CGV is too lenient. A press agency that violates the press law can be suspended for a period of time, or even have its license revoked. So, why is a business that defies Vietnamese law and systematically and subtly insults the national spirit of the Vietnamese people only fined? Why can't it be banned from doing business for a period of time? If it is true that this business has a plan to import moviesMulanI further affirm that this business is too disrespectful to Vietnamese people and our penalties are too light!

* Recently, there have been too many “cow tongue lines” appearing in Vietnam. What do you think about such “soft” campaigns to plant false ideas about borders and territories?

- The “soft” campaigns to plant false ideas about borders and territories are a long-term, systematic, and large-scale plan of China. It is very gratifying that the awareness of Vietnamese people on this issue has had positive changes. The Party’s specialized resolutions on culture from 1998 to the present have emphasized that each person as well as the whole society needs to improve their cultural strength to be able to resist bad ideas and tendencies. At least, in the field related to sovereignty, we have initially done that.

The problem is that our legal system and penalties seem to be too lenient in this matter. I am horrified to know that there are universities where both the dean and lecturers have freely imported textbooks with the “cow tongue line” map into their teaching materials, and when discovered, they claim they did not know, did not have the capacity to detect it, and are not punished. Only by increasing the level of penalties can we further enhance society’s ability to defend itself against wrong thoughts and neutralize Beijing’s plots related to sovereignty and territory.

According to thanhnien.vn