China Scrambles to Use Bizarre Loophole to Host Marco Rubio After Sanctioning Him for Past Criticism

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

China is reportedly exploiting a bizarre linguistic loophole to host Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his first visit to the country as part of President Donald Trump’s team this week, despite the Cabinet member remaining under sanctions imposed by Beijing for past outspoken criticism of human rights abuses.

Rubio traveled with Trump to Beijing on Wednesday, along with prominent U.S. tech leaders, for talks with dictator Xi Jinping expected to center on trade and artificial intelligence. But the secretary of state’s presence is politically notable given that China sanctioned him twice during his time as a Republican senator.

While a senator, Rubio championed legislation imposing sanctions over allegations of forced labor involving the Uyghur Muslim minority and repeatedly condemning Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong. He is also a longtime advocate for Taiwan’s sovereignty.

In recent months, however, anticipating the U.S. visit, Chinese officials and state media have begun using a different Chinese character to represent the “Lu” in Rubio’s surname, a subtle switch-up that diplomats believe have allowed Beijing to technically sidestep sanctions attached to the previous transliteration of his name.

Two diplomats told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the change was linked to the sanctions, which included an entry ban under the older spelling.

China signaled this week that it would not block Rubio from entering the country despite his past clashes with the Communist government.

According to AFP, Western public figures are often assigned multiple Chinese transliterations with no fixed standard for how names are rendered into Mandarin. Trump himself is referred to by more than one Chinese name in official and popular usage.

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