Vietnamese state media reported on Monday that Vietnam has banned the movie Barbie from being released in the Southeast Asian country. Vietnam banned the movie because of a moment in the film showing a map of China’s claimed territory in the South China Sea. The map shows the “nine-dash line” used by China to claim almost all of the South China Sea. The claim was rejected in an international court ruling in The Hague, Netherlands in 2016. But China refuses to recognize the ruling. The Chinese claim includes areas of what Vietnam and several Southeast Asian countries consider part of their country. Vietnam has repeatedly accused China’s ships of entering its territory without permission. Vietnam has also permitted oil companies to explore and gather oil resources in this territory.
