Rubio Travels to Beijing with Trump Despite Sanctions

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is traveling to Beijing this week with President Donald Trump, despite remaining under Chinese sanctions imposed during his time as a senator, after Chinese state media and officials adopted a different transliteration of his name.

The trip marks Rubio's first visit to China. He boarded Air Force One with Trump on Tuesday from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, with the delegation scheduled to arrive Wednesday. The journey comes as Trump holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on trade, Taiwan, artificial intelligence and the Iran conflict, the first such presidential visit in nearly a decade.

Rubio faced sanctions from Beijing twice while serving in the Senate, including an entry ban, for his criticism of China's policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. He led legislation imposing U.S. sanctions over allegations of forced labor involving Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, a charge China denies, and spoke against Beijing's actions in Hong Kong.

Shortly before Rubio took office as secretary of state in January 2025, Chinese government outlets and media shifted from spelling his name as 卢比奥 to 鲁比奥. Both renderings are pronounced similarly in...