The Guardian -
Marco Rubio was the key author of congressional legislation that imposed wide sanctions on China over the alleged use of forced labor by the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
Marco Rubio
Linguistic workaround allows Marco Rubio, sanctioned by Beijing, to travel to China for the first time
As a US senator, Rubio, who is visiting China for the first time, fiercely championed human rights in China, which retaliated by imposing sanctions on him twice – adopting a tactic more often used by the US against adversaries.
But China appears to have 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 told the AFP news agency they believed that China made the change because Rubio was under sanctions, which included an entry ban, under the old spelling of his name.
China said Tuesday it would not block Rubio for his past actions.
“The sanctions target Mr Rubio’s words and deeds when he served as a US senator concerning China,” the Chinese embassy spokesperson, Liu Pengyu said.
Asked about the linguistic change last year, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that she “had not noticed it but would look into it”, according to Chinese state media. Mao said that Rubio’s English name was more important.
It’s not unusual for western public figures to have more than one Chinese transliteration of their names. The process for translating western names into Chinese characters is not always standardised.
Trump also has two Chinese names. The Chinese government and state media call him telangpu but he is also often referred to as chuanpu, a slightly different transliteration.
