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The Straits Times (13 May 2026)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was heading on May 12 to Beijing with US President Donald Trump despite being under Chinese sanctions – a breakthrough apparently made possible after China changed the transliteration of his name.

As a US senator, Mr 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 on May 12 it would not block Mr Rubio, now 54 and visiting China for the first time, from entering on Air Force One with Mr Trump, the first US president to visit the Asian power in nearly a decade.

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