A scene in the Barbie movie that shows a map of disputed Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea has led to a ban in Vietnam.
Vietnam is one of several nations that dispute China's claim to nearly the entire South China Sea.
The Barbie movie, which has already dominated social media, will debut in theaters on July 21. .
Which scene, according to a senior official, shows the "offensive image" of China's nine-dash line is unclear.
Chinese maps of the South China Sea display their territorial claims using the nine-dash line.
In an effort to bolster its territorial claims, Beijing has been constructing military bases on fictitious islands in the region for years. Beijing also frequently conducts naval patrols in the region.
Beijing does not recognize a 2016 international arbitration decision by a court in The Hague that condemned the nine-dash line.
Vietnam has prohibited other works besides Barbie that use the nine-dash line.
Abominable, an animated DreamWorks movie, was canceled in 2019 for the same reason. Three years later, the Department of Cinema, a government agency in charge of licensing and censoring foreign films, took issue with the Sony action film Uncharted.
Following an official complaint, Netflix removed the Australian spy drama Pine Gap from the Vietnamese market two years ago. .
In the South China Sea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei all have conflicting claims.
