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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Guardian staff and agencies

Linguistic workaround allows Marco Rubio, sanctioned by Beijing, to travel to China for the first time

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stands at the top of aircraft stairs against a clear blue sky.
Marco Rubio was the key author of congressional legislation that imposed wide sanctions on China over the alleged use of forced labor by the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

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.

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