As President Donald Trump's entourage visited China for a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the media and public turned their attention to Secretary of State Marco Rubio's entry into China.

This was because Rubio, who is officially sanctioned by the Chinese government, should not have been able to enter the country in principle. However, he confidently entered China with President Trump.

Rubio's entry into China was actually made possible in 2025. The Chinese government employed a diplomatic workaround to allow the Secretary of State, who oversees U.S. diplomatic affairs, to bypass its entry ban: changing the Chinese transliteration of his name.

The Beijing authorities altered the designation that had been subject to the travel ban, '20260513-rubio1.gif' (Rubio), to '20260513-rubio2.gif' (Rubio). The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the basis for this measure was that the sanctions against Secretary Rubio were technically aimed at "his words and actions during his tenure as a U.S. Senator," not at his position as the current top U.S. diplomat.

China had imposed an entry ban on Rubio in 2020 as a retaliatory measure against U.S. actions targeting Chinese officials concerning human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Rubio, a staunch anti-communist, served as the acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time and was a vocal critic of China's human rights abuses, acting as a "sniper against China." He led legislation supporting human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement.

The change in approach by Chinese authorities towards Rubio was a measure already taken in January 2025. At that time, reporters had questioned the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs about whether they had "lifted the sanctions" in relation to the change in the Chinese transliteration of Rubio's name.

According to the Global Times, Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time, stated that she was unaware of the change but would look into it, emphasizing that Rubio's English name was more significant.

While reporting on the matter, the Global Times stated, "Guo Zhaokun, a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also responded to questions about the potential lifting of sanctions on Secretary Rubio by stating that China will firmly protect its national interests. At the same time, it is also necessary for high-ranking officials from China and the United States to maintain communication in an appropriate manner."

Regardless of the circumstances, Rubio's visit to China as a high-ranking U.S. official, despite his name being on the entry ban list, has drawn attention.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 13th (local time) that "President Trump's visit to China has made Secretary of State Marco Rubio the first sanctioned U.S. Secretary of State to visit China."

This illustrates that both sanctions and exceptions are made in the interest of national gain, and ultimately, principles can be disregarded for the sake of national interest, which clearly reveals China making a concession in this U.S.-China summit.

By Sung Ku Hong, Editor-in-Chief, NNP, USA / Special Correspondent for this newspaper NNP info@newsandpost.com