The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions.

“Barbie” is the latest movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated in an international arbitration ruling by a court in The Hague in 2016. China refuses to recognise the ruling.

In 2019 the Vietnamese government pulled DreamWorks’ animated film “Abominable” and last year it banned Sony’s action movie “Unchartered” for the same reason. Netflix also removed an Australian spy drama “Pine Gap” in 2021.

[The answer is easy — it’s the same reason that the NBA sells out to Xi Jinping. DOLLARS. And Hollywood’s case may be worse than the NBA’s, in that it gets film investment capital from China as well. It’s not just image placement either, but sometimes it’s embedded in scripts, such as in “The Martian” with Matt Damon, an otherwise fine movie. Does anyone think it’s an accident that the film portrays China as selfless, altruistic saviors of bumbling Americans? UPDATE: Bob Grant has read the source novel for The Martian and says that subplot existed there as well. “It was not a Disney addition,” Bob says. I stand corrected. — Ed]