China Changes Marco Rubio’s Name to Let Him Travel to Beijing With Donald Trump

Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Beijing with President Donald Trump despite sanctions Beijing imposed on him in 2020, and the trip was enabled by a change in how his surname is transliterated into Chinese characters.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said, reporting from the Chinese capital, that “China has done that using a sleight of hand: His name is spelled different in official documents for this visit,” as China used a “diplomatic workaround” to let Rubio accompany Trump without lifting sanctions.

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The Al Jazeera report says the Chinese government transliterated the first syllable of Rubio’s surname with a different Chinese character for “lu,” producing the name “Marco Lu,” and that the change began shortly before Rubio took office as secretary of state in January 2025.

The Guardian similarly frames the episode as a “linguistic workaround” that allowed Rubio, sanctioned twice by Beijing and facing an entry ban under the old spelling, to travel to China for the first time.

In the same account, the Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, “The sanctions target Mr Rubio’s words and deeds when he served as a US senator concerning China,” as China indicated it would not block Rubio’s travel.

Al Jazeera reports that Beijing had sanctioned Rubio twice in 2020 for speaking out against China’s crackdown in Hong Kong and for criticizing alleged abuse of the mostly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang, and it links those sanctions to his role as a senator.

The report also says Rubio was a proponent of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act approved in 2021, and it quotes Rubio saying, “For those who have not done that, they’ll no longer be able to continue to make Americans – every one of us, frankly – unwitting accomplices in the atrocities, in the genocide.”

Al Jazeera

When asked about the transliteration change, Al Jazeera says the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated it was willing to relax those sanctions against Rubio if he traveled with Trump for a summit in Beijing, and it attributes the position to Lin Jian on March 16.

The Guardian adds that when China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was asked about the linguistic change last year, she said she “had not noticed it but would look into it,” according to Chinese state media.

In the same Guardian account, a state department official confirmed only that Rubio was traveling with Trump, while the report notes that the name change was adopted shortly before Rubio took office in January 2025.

The New York Times describes Trump’s entourage for the summit in Beijing as including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, despite sanctions imposed on him in 2020, and it places the meeting as beginning on Thursday with President Xi Jinping.

The Times also says the agenda could shape “the next chapter in U.S.-Chinese relations,” with Trump and Xi expected to discuss trade and investment, “the war in Iran,” and other matters, according to senior U.S. officials.

In the same report, the Times lists business leaders accompanying Trump, including Tim Cook of Apple and Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and it says Huang had been a late addition after Trump called him on Tuesday morning.

GB News frames the name alteration as a “diplomatic workaround” to ensure Rubio could enter after the CCP barred him from setting foot in the country, and it quotes Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu saying, “The sanctions target Mr Rubio’s words and deeds when he served as a US senator concerning China.”

The Guardian’s account ties the workaround to the broader summit context, saying Trump is set to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a state visit with Xi Jinping with trade, Taiwan and AI set to feature in discussions.