US secretary of state Marco Rubio is heading to Beijing with president Donald Trump despite being under Chinese sanctions – a breakthrough that might have been made possible after China changed his name’s transliteration.

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.

Trump is set to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday for a state visit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping with trade, Taiwan and AI all set to feature in discussions.

A state department official confirmed only that Rubio was travelling with Trump. Rubio was seen boarding Air Force One at Andrews air force base.

Rubio, a Cuban-American who vociferously opposes communism, was the key author of congressional legislation that imposed wide sanctions on China over the alleged use of forced labour by the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority, and he has spoken out against Beijing’s clampdown in Hong Kong.

At his confirmation hearing as secretary of state, Rubio focused heavily on China, which he described as an unprecedented adversary.

But since taking office, Rubio has supported Trump who describes counterpart Xi Jinping as a friend and has focused on building a trade relationship while downplaying human rights.

Last year, however, Rubio brought relief to Taiwan when he said that the Trump administration would not negotiate over the self-governing democracy’s future to secure a trade deal with China.

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report