US4 min(s) read
Published 16:14 14 May 2026 GMT
President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing this week for high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, accompanied by several senior members of his administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The 54-year-old played a major role during the state visit and was even seen shaking hands with Xi during China’s elaborate welcome ceremony.
But there was one complication behind his attendance.
Despite traveling as one of the top officials in the US delegation, Rubio is technically still banned from entering the country under sanctions imposed by Beijing in 2020.
China sanctioned Rubio twice while he was serving as a senator for Florida after he made several comments about China’s crackdown in Hong Kong and its treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.
The diplomat, a Cuban American and longtime critic of communism, also strongly backed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.
The law, approved in 2021, required companies importing goods from China’s Xinjiang region to prove products were not made using forced labor.
"Many companies have already taken steps to clean up their supply chains," he said at the time, per Al Jazeera.
"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.”
Although the sanctions were never officially removed, reports say China quietly created a loophole that allowed Rubio to enter the country anyway.
According to The Washington Post, Chinese officials and state media began using a different Chinese transliteration for Rubio’s surname shortly after Trump appointed him secretary of state in 2025.
The slight spelling change reportedly allowed Beijing to treat Rubio under a technically different name without formally lifting the sanctions.
"Chinese state media and official records began using a different transliterated character for the 'Ru' or 'Lu' in Rubio’s name after Trump named him secretary of state in 2025," the report stated.
"Beijing made the tweak without fanfare.
"But this week, it has been a buzzy topic on Chinese social media, with Rubio in Beijing as one of the top officials in the U.S. delegation.
"During the elaborate welcome ceremony, he stood in the first row of the group of American visitors and shook hands with Xi," the publication added.
Al Jazeera reporter Alan Fisher described the move as 'a sleight of hand,' adding: "China has done that using a sleight of hand: His name is spelled different in official documents for this visit."
Earlier this year, China’s Foreign Ministry suggested it may be open to softening its stance toward Rubio ahead of Trump’s visit.
"China’s sanctions were aimed at Mr Rubio’s words and deeds concerning China during his tenure in the United States Senate," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on March 16.
Trump and Xi spoke about a range of issues during their summit inside the Great Hall.
During the talks, the 72-year-old Chinese president brought up the so-called Thucydides Trap, a foreign policy theory that suggests war often happens when a rising world power threatens to replace an established one.
The Chinese leader asked Trump across the table: "The world has come to a new crossroads. Can China and the US overcome the Thucydides Trap and create a new paradigm?"
He also questioned 'whether the two countries can transcend the Thucydides Trap and forge a new model for relations between major powers,' and stated: "Cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both."
"The two countries should be partners rather than rivals, achieve success together and pursue common prosperity, and chart a correct path for major-country relations in the new era," he added.
Meanwhile, Trump praised Xi before the summit officially began, saying: "It's an honor to be with you, it's an honor to be your friend, and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before."
"You’re a great leader... Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true," he added.
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