China changes Marco Rubio’s name to say ‘stupid’
Marco Rubio has been called many things in his political career. His current boss used to call him “Little Marco”. In Beijing this week, the secretary of state suffered another indignity.
Chinese officials have decided to spell his name with the character “鲁”, which means “reckless”, “stupid” or “crass”.
The decision to change the spelling of Rubio’s name has been perceived by some as an awkward way of getting around the fact that President Trump’s top diplomat is sanctioned by China and banned from entering the country.
As a senator, Rubio regularly criticised Beijing’s persecution of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang and the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. He was sanctioned in 2020.
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However, after Rubio was named Trump’s secretary of state last year, the spelling of his name mysteriously changed, allowing Chinese authorities to maintain sanctions on the “Rubio” named in official documents while also enabling him to visit Beijing on official trips.
At the same time, the CCP appears to have sensed an opportunity to make a subtle dig. Rubio’s original Chinese name used the neutral character “卢”, which can be transliterated either “Ru” or “Lu”. That has been substituted for “鲁”, a character with less flattering connotations.
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The spelling of Rubio’s name has generated plenty of debate among linguists, with some arguing that the apparent change was not intended as a diplomatic slight. Several versions of Rubio’s name have been used in the past by Beijing and the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, recommends “鲁”.
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In an interview with Fox News, Rubio maintained his hawkish stance. He said China remained America’s “top political challenge geopolitically” and on Taiwan said: “It’s not in China’s interest or anyone’s interest for there to be any sort of forced change in the status quo.”
He added: “China has a plan … they believe they will be the world’s most powerful country, they’ll surpass the United States, and they have a plan to do it, and they’re executing on that plan. And I don’t blame them. If I were the Chinese government, I’d have the same plan.
“We, on the other hand, don’t view it that way, and we don’t want to see anything — we’re not trying to constrain China, but their rise cannot come at our expense. Their rise cannot come at our fall. So there’s an area where we’re just going to have a difference of opinion.”
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On the flight to Beijing, Rubio was seen relaxing in a Nike tracksuit similar to the one worn by Nicolás Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, when he was captured by US special forces in January.
“Secretary Rubio rocking the Nike Tech ‘Venezuela’ on Air Force One!” wrote Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, on X.