As a US senator, Rubio 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.
China said Tuesday it would not block Rubio, now 54 and visiting China for the first time, from entering on Air Force One with Trump, the first US president to visit the Asian power in nearly a decade.
“The sanctions target Mr Rubio’s words and deeds when he served as a US senator concerning China,” Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said.
China had already appeared to find a diplomatic workaround after Trump named Rubio his secretary of state and national security advisor.
Shortly before he took office in January 2025, the Chinese government and official media began transliterating the first syllable of his surname with a different Chinese character for “lu”.
Two diplomats said they believed the change was an immediate way for China to avoid implementing its sanctions, as Rubio was banned from entering under the old spelling of his name.
A state department official confirmed only that Rubio was travelling with Trump.
Rubio’s presence on Air Force One quickly drew online attention for another reason after the White House released a photo of him lounging in a Nike tracksuit of the sort worn by Venezuela’s ousted president Nicolas Maduro when US forces snatched him in January.
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, charges denied by Beijing.
He has also 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.