Read a version of this story in Vietnamese
Vietnam has ordered officials to confiscate a Chinese-made doll with an image printed on its cheek resembling a map used by Beijing to demarcate its claims over disputed areas of the South China Sea, state media reported.
State media photos circulating on Vietnamese social media show an image resembling the “nine-dash line” – also referred to as the “cow-tongue line” – on the stuffed doll called “Baby Three.”
The doll has been sold in Vietnam at sidewalk stores and online shops like TikTok Shop, Shopee and Facebook since May 2024, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
But the Ministry of Industry and Trade only recently received reports that the doll and several other children’s toys included images of the nine-dash line, the agency said.
The ministry’s Domestic Markets Department recently sent a letter to agencies in provinces and cities requesting an increase in inspections of toys containing the images, according to the state-run Tuoi Tre news site.
Vietnam, China and the Philippines all have overlapping claims on waters in the South China Sea. Chinese maps often show a set of nine or 11 dashes encircling up to 90% of the sea — but such claims have infuriated Hanoi.
The sale and distribution of any products featuring the nine-dash line in Vietnam is illegal, and anyone selling the toys could face penalties, the department’s director general, Tran Huu Linh, told the site.
Because it affects Vietnam’s national security and territorial sovereignty, officials should confiscate any toys that have the image, he said.
‘Another wake-up call’
“This is the latest evidence showing China’s unwavering ambition to dominate the South China Sea entirely – a scheme it has been quietly and persistently pursuing for decades,” former political prisoner Le Anh Hung told Radio Free Asia.
“This is another wake-up call for our country regarding the danger of China’s expansionism in the South China Sea, which seriously threatens the vital space of the Vietnamese people in the 21st century,” he said.
There have been several other incidents of foreign-made goods and cultural products entering Vietnam that contain images of the nine-dash line, particularly in films.
Last year, the movie “Barbie” was banned in Vietnam because authorities said it included a cartoonish map showing China’s territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea.
An international arbitration tribunal in a case brought by the Philippines in 2016 ruled that China’s claim to “historic rights” is unlawful, but Beijing declared the ruling “null and void” and refused to recognize it.
China has continued with efforts to reinforce the nine-dash line, especially with the presence of its large coast guard and maritime militia fleets.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on reports of the Baby Three doll.
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Vietnamese.