A bubble tea chain and a toy doll are the latest casualties of Beijing and Hanoi’s competing claims over the South China Sea

A man sitting at shop selling Baby Three dolls and other toys on a street in Hanoi on March 18, 2025. Seething international tensions over the South China Sea have struck an unlikely victim in Vietnam: popular children’s dolls pulled from shops over a facial mark supposedly resembling Beijing’s claims in the flashpoint waterway.

Nhac Nguyen—AFP via Getty Images