Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has accused the Barbie movie of pushing Chinese propaganda upon revelations that Vietnam banned the movie for its use of a map for reportedly “Nine-Dash Line” in it, a fake border that the Chinese government uses to show it controls a majority of the South China Sea.

In a statement quoted by state media, Vietnam’s Department of Cinema chief Vi Kien Thanh said the country will not “grant license for the American movie ‘Barbie’ to release in Vietnam because it contains the offending image of the Nine-Dash Line.”

As Breitbart News reported, the “Nine-Dash Line” has no international recognition and it was soundly defeated by an international court in 2016.

“China simply ignored the court ruling and proceeded as though its territorial claims were legitimate,” said the report. “Vietnam, a fellow communist nation, has its own territorial claims in the South China Sea and has grown increasingly confrontational with China over them. In addition to Vietnam, the ‘nine-dash line’ claims for China the sovereign territory of the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.”

A spokesperson for Ted Cruz told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that the film’s alleged use of the map proves that Hollywood has not yet learned its lesson on Chinese pandering.

“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,” the spokesperson said.

“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,” the statement continued. “Sen. Cruz deserves credit for reversing these trends.”

Ted Cruz also spoke out against Chinese pandering when reports first surfaced that the Top Gun: Maverick sequel had altered Tom Cruise’s iconic jacket to exclude the Japanese and Taiwanese flags. However, after a long delay due to the coronavirus, the movie finally restored the original flags and went on to gross over a billion dollars worldwide.

Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.