Secretary of State Marco Rubio was heading to Beijing with President Donald Trump despite being under Chinese sanctions — a breakthrough apparently made possible after China changed the transliteration of his name.
As a US senator, Rubio, now 54 and visiting China for the first time, accused China of human rights violations, with Beijing retaliating by imposing sanctions on him twice — adopting a tactic more often used by the United States against adversaries.
China found a diplomatic workaround after Trump named Rubio his secretary of state.
Shortly before he took office in January 2025, the Chinese government and official media began using a different Chinese character for "lu" to represent the first syllable in his surname.
Two diplomats said they believed that China made the change because Rubio was under sanctions, which included an entry ban, under the old spelling of his name.
The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trade and Taiwan
A State Department official confirmed only that Rubio was travelling with Trump. Rubio was seen boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base.
Rubio, a Cuban-American who vociferously opposes communism, was the key author of congressional legislation that imposed wide sanctions on China over the alleged human rights abuses.
At his confirmation hearing as secretary of state, Rubio focused heavily on China, which he described as an unprecedented adversary.
But since taking office, Rubio has supported Trump, who describes his counterpart Xi Jinping as a friend and has focused on building a trade relationship.
Last year, however, Rubio brought relief to Taiwan when he said that the Trump administration would not negotiate over the island’s future to secure a trade deal with China.
