How China allowed sanctioned Marco Rubio into Beijing with a Chinese name for Trump visit

Marco Rubio was reportedly allowed to enter China for President Donald Trump’s summit in Beijing through a diplomatic workaround involving the spelling of his name.

According to reports from Al Jazeera, Chinese officials altered the Chinese transliteration of Rubio’s surname in official documents, effectively allowing him to enter despite sanctions previously imposed on him by Beijing.

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Al Jazeera correspondent Alan Fisher said: “China has done that using a sleight of hand: His name is spelled different in official documents for this visit.”

Chinese authorities reportedly changed Rubio’s surname to a different Chinese character pronounced “Lu”, allowing him to travel under the name “Marco Lu” without formally lifting sanctions.

Beijing sanctioned Rubio twice in 2020 while he was serving as a US senator. The measures were imposed after he criticised China’s crackdown in Hong Kong and raised concerns about the treatment of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.

Rubio also supported the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the United States Congress.