Deb Fischer: “earlier this month, the Chinese Communist Party's relentless propaganda efforts rose to the forefront of international…”

“earlier this month, the Chinese Communist Party's relentless propaganda efforts rose to the forefront of international discussion yet again. China's authoritarian government squashes opposition at home without hesitation, but its censorship and propaganda spreads far beyond China's borders. The CCP uses an array of insidious means to push its messages across national boundaries. Concerns that the CCP's influence is seeping into Hollywood continues to grow. This issue flared up once again this month. Why? Well, in a word, ``Barbie.'' You heard me right. A movie about a plastic doll is the last place you would expect national security questions to arise, but it has. One trailer for the ``Barbie'' movie depicted a cartoon map of the title character's world travels. On the map is a roughly drawn continent of Asia, but it might be more than just a cartoon character's doodle. The map includes a dotted line extending out from the east shore of China. Well, that line is curiously similar to what is known as the nine- dash line. Everyone in the defense space is familiar with this line. It is a Chinese-drawn boundary in the South China Sea. China uses this boundary to claim ownership of maritime territory, even though the United Nations International Court of Justice rejected its claims on that territory in 2016. The country's neighbors, including Vietnam and the Philippines, they certainly contest these claims as well.…”