To enable him to enter its territory.. China changes the name of the US Secretary of State

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be in Beijing today, accompanied by President Donald Trump, despite being subject to sanctions from China, whose new approach towards him included changing the way his name is spelled.

China said yesterday that it would not prevent Rubio (54 years old), who is visiting China for the first time, from boarding Air Force One with Trump, the first US president to visit Beijing in nearly a decade.

“The sanctions target Mr. Rubio’s statements and actions when he was a member of the US Senate regarding China,” Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Bingyu said.

It seems that China has found a diplomatic solution after Trump appointed Rubio as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor. Shortly before he took office in January 2025, the Chinese government and state media began translating the first syllable of his family name with a different Chinese character.

Two diplomats said they believed the change was a way for China to avoid implementing its sanctions, such that Rubio was banned from entering its territory using the old spelling of his name. A State Department official confirmed that Rubio was traveling with Trump.

Rubio, a Cuban-American who staunchly opposes communism, was the most prominent author of legislation passed by Congress that imposed broad sanctions on China over the use of forced labor by the Uyghur minority, accusations denied by Beijing. He also criticized Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong.