'I guess Barbie is made in China': Texas Senator Ted Cruz slams new Margot Robbie movie for 'pushing Chinese propaganda' - after it's banned in Vietnam for map with 'nine dash line'

• e-mail

Senator Ted Cruz slammed the makers of the upcoming Barbie movie for attempting to 'appease the Chinese Communist Party' after Vietnam banned the film over scenes with a map showing China's claims to territory in the South China Sea.

The movie about the doll, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, had been set for release in the country on July 21.

However, its performance schedule is no longer on the websites of major Vietnamese cinema chains following the government's decision to ban the film due to scenes featuring the so-called nine-dash line, state media reported.

A spokesperson for Senator Cruz sent a statement to DailyMail.com calling out the film for 'pushing Chinese propaganda.' 

'Senator Cruz has been fighting for years to prevent American companies, especially Hollywood studios, from altering and censoring their content to appease the Chinese Communist Party,' his statement read.

Senator Ted Cruz slammed the makers of the upcoming Barbie movie for attempting to 'appease the Chinese Communist Party' after Vietnam banned the movie over scenes with a map showing China 's claims to territory in the South China Sea

The film's performance schedule is no longer on the websites of major Vietnamese cinema chains following the government's decision to ban the film due to scenes featuring the so-called nine-dash line, state media reported

The nine-dash line is a maritime boundary in the South China Sea drawn up by China, which claims to own the territory inside the line 

'China wants to control what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think, and they leverage their massive film markets to coerce American companies into pushing CCP propaganda—just like the way the Barbie film seems to have done with the map. Sen. Cruz deserves credit for reversing these trends.' 

The statement also referenced legislation Senator Cruz authored and passed in 2022 preventing government cooperation on 'films that engage in exactly this kind of censorship. 

Beijing has been building military bases on artificial islands within the border for years and also often conducts patrols there in an attempt to impose its territorial claims. 

China has long used its so-called nine-dash line to demonstrate its expansive claims to most of the resource-rich sea, often to the displeasure of the Vietnamese, who also claim part of the waterway.

The boundary is also contested by others including the Philippines, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

'The film review board watched the film and made the decision to ban the screening of this movie in Vietnam due to a violation regarding the 'nine-dash line',' Vietnam's Department of Cinema director, Vi Kien Thanh, told the Dan Tri news site.

Another state media outlet, Tien Phong, reported that the nine-dash line scene appeared multiple times in the movie.

All films in Vietnam must be approved by censors who screen for gratuitous violence, suggestive sex scenes, or politically-sensitive material.

The new Barbie film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling has been pulled in Vietnam for scenes showing the nine-dash line in the South China Sea

Uncharted, starring Tom Holland, was also banned in Vietnam for scenes featuring the nine-dash line

Last year, the action-and-adventure movie starring Tom Holland, Uncharted, was stopped from being shown due to scenes featuring the same line.

The same was also the case in 2019, when Abominable was banned in Vietnam, and Netflix was told to remove episodes of the series Pine Gap.

And in 2018, Vietnam cut a scene from the romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians that featured a designer bag with a map of the world showing the disputed South China Sea islands as being under Beijing's control.

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.