Vietnam Bans Barbie Movie Because It Allegedly Depicts China’s Claims on South China Sea

Vietnam has banned the"Barbie" movie after officials there claimed that a scene in the film implies that China controls a vast swath of the South China Sea.

China uses a nine-dash line to represent what it views as its historical control of the South China Sea, despite a 2016 United Nations tribunal that declared those claims were not valid under international law.

The line can allegedly be spotted in the new movie, but it's unclear whether the placement was intentional.

Twitter users posted screenshots from one of the film's trailers, questioning whether a crudely-drawn, cartoon map in one scene is the one that offended Vietnamese authorities.

Last month, GamesRadar pointed out that the "Barbie" map is far from historically accurate — Australia appears to be upside down and England is decorated with a crown.

Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, "Barbie" was set to release in Vietnam on July 21 — the same day as the U.S. It's not the first film to be banned from Vietnam for similar violations: Sony's "Uncharted" and DreamWorks' "Abominable" were banned for including maps featuring the nine-dash line in 2022 and 2019 respectively.