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Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. Madam President, 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. China appeals to this false boundary when its naval presence creeps into new areas of the South China Sea, and it intimidates boats, fishermen, and others from neighboring countries who cross that invisible line.

Now, ``Barbie,'' the movie, it is a great movie. Americans loved it this past weekend, but the ``Barbie'' movie, well, it treads a little too closely to depicting what looks like the nine-dash line. Hollywood needs to become aware of the ways that the CCP tends to push its propaganda. Use of the line is a trigger for geopolitical sensitivities, including its likeness on a map, even as part of a child-like drawing, that has real global ramifications.

Now, you may say: Oh, come on, it is just a movie. But Vietnam's authorities banned ``Barbie'' from playing in theaters because of its offensive, alleged depiction of the nine-dash line. And members of the Philippines Government, they raised concerns as well, eventually deciding to blur the map line in showings across their country.

Despite the ``Barbie'' movie's content, allegations of Chinese propaganda in Hollywood are not child's play. China continues to take advantage of our unprecedented global media network to do real damage. It is no accident that China is financing some of the biggest films, and China runs the second largest box office in the world, second only to North America.

When a movie doesn't play in China, Hollywood loses literally billions of dollars. Remember the controversy around ``Top Gun's'' sequel last year? The Department of Defense, they worked with Paramount Pictures to make that movie happen, but when ``Top Gun: Maverick's'' first trailer was released in 2019, viewers noticed that the Japanese and Taiwanese flags that were on Tom Cruise's bomber jacket, well, they had been replaced in an attempt to appease China.

The studio wisely reversed course on that decision after a public outcry, but that is not where the CCP's influence ended. The film made no mentions or even implications of the United States' primary adversary, and that is China. Any movie related to our national defense that doesn't bring up China, well, it must be set in an alternative universe because that is the biggest defense challenge facing our country. This isn't a conspiracy theory.

The Presiding Officer is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and we know well China's strategy. The defense world is well aware that China maintains a well-oiled propaganda machine that is enmeshed in our modern media.

So you may say: Oh, come on, it is just a movie. No, this is a serious problem, so serious that it is one our government should address. We can't allow our Federal Agencies to help elevate messages that support the CCP's goals, and we certainly cannot involve our own Defense Department and taxpayer dollars in entertainment projects that are beholden to Chinese propaganda.

As a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I have successfully secured language in the last two National Defense Authorization Acts to prevent our government's Department of Defense from participating in entertainment projects with ties to the CCP.

Thanks to our persistent efforts, the Department of Defense recently released new regulations around how the Department of Defense can provide assistance to entertainment projects. Pursuant to these NDAA provisions, the Department is now prohibited from assisting with entertainment projects that censor the content of the project in a material manner to advance the national interest of the People's Republic of China.

It is my hope that this new policy will ensure that taxpayer dollars are never involved in anti-American messaging efforts as well as send a clear signal to the CCP that we will no longer turn a blind eye to its propaganda efforts. This is just one example of the many provisions in this year's NDAA that stand up to China and advance our national security.

I encourage my Senate colleagues to vote yes on the NDAA so that we can deliver a strong package that keeps China in line.

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