China exercises linguistic license to allow sanctioned Rubio into country

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is sanctioned by Beijing and officially unable to enter China but is allowed under a linguistic quirk of Mandarin.

Rubio was sanctioned during his time in the Senate over his hawkish stance on China and work addressing human rights in China. Shortly after he was named secretary of state, however, analysts noted that the Chinese government and official media began spelling his name differently. The first character of his transcribed surname was changed, going from ‘卢比奥’ (Lǔ Bǐ’ào) to ‘鲁比奥’ (Lǔ Bǐ’ào), according to the Chosun Daily.

Two diplomats told the AFP that the change was to take advantage of a legal loophole because Rubio was only banned under the previous name.

Beijing didn’t address the change when asked. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told Chinese media last year that she “had not noticed it but would look into it.”

In more recent comments, Chinese Embassy spokesman