To escape sanctions… Rubio accompanies Trump to Beijing under a Chinese name

He will be the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Wednesday, in Beijing, accompanied by President Donald Trump, despite being subject to sanctions from China‘s new approach to him included changing the way his name was spelled.

As a senator, Rubio fiercely defended human rights in China, which responded by twice imposing sanctions on him, a tactic the United States often uses against its adversaries.

China said Tuesday it would not prevent Rubio, 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.

Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Bingyu said "Sanctions target Mr. Rubioand his actions while he was a U.S. Senator with regard to China".

It appears 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 last name with a different Chinese character.

Two diplomats said they believed this change was a way for China to avoid implementing its sanctions, so that Rubio was banned from entering its territory using the old spelling. To 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, charges that Beijing denied.
He also criticized Beijing’s repressive campaign in Hong Kong.