What has changed?

The change, noted in an official transcript from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, involves replacing the character for Rubio’s surname with one of a similar pronunciation but a different tone.

Rubio’s Chinese name was previously rendered as 卢比奥 (Lú Bǐ Ào). The new version uses the character 鲁 (Lǔ) for the first syllable. While both characters are pronounced similarly, the tones differ, and their meanings—"black" (卢) versus "simple" or "rustic" (鲁)—bear no particular significance in this context.

While seemingly minor, such adjustments are rare and require high-level approval and often carry symbolic significance in Chinese diplomacy.

“Official names are important and any misspelling can create international confusion,” Tom Pauken II, a Beijing-based American geopolitical consultant and commentator, tells TRT World.

“If Marco Rubio’s name on China’s official and diplomatic documents (with the changed Chinese characters) are different than the one on the sanctions list, we can infer that the US Secretary of State is not on the sanctions list,” he contends.

Pauken suggests that this basically means that there “is no travel ban on Rubio.”





It is an absolutely correct qns to ask. TS knew nothing at all. It is china's way of working around the sanction.

This post has been edited by Adrian909: Jan 25 2025, 12:54 PM