Chinese officials are reportedly refusing to discuss Beijing’s travel ban against Marco Rubio, the former Republican senator from Florida who was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of State on Monday.
Banning America’s top diplomat from traveling to China could be a significant obstacle to diplomacy.
China passed an “Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law” in 2021 that was intended to intimidate foreign governments by promising automatic retaliation against any effort to sanction China for its human rights abuses.
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Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz of Texas were targeted by sanctions from Beijing in July 2020 because they spoke out against China’s oppression of the Uyghur Muslims. The United States had just imposed sanctions against Chinese officials involved in what then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called “horrific and systematic abuses” against the Uyghurs.
Rubio was also named in retaliatory sanctions China imposed against U.S. officials in August 2020, after the United States sanctioned eleven Chinese officials for political repression in Hong Kong. Several other Republican senators were banned from traveling to China, including Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), and former Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA).
“In response to those wrong U.S. behaviours, China has decided to impose sanctions on individuals who have behaved egregiously on Hong Kong-related issues,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at the time.
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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Thursday declined to answer a question about whether her government would refuse to deal with Rubio because of the sanctions imposed against him.
“I have no information to share on your question,” Mao said curtly.
“Let me say more broadly that it’s necessary for high-level Chinese and U.S. officials to engage each other in appropriate ways. In the meantime, China will firmly defend its national interests,” she added.
Mao criticized Rubio for discussing China’s “dangerous and destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” with Philippine Secretary of Foreign affairs Enrique Manalo in a phone call on Wednesday. Rubio said during the call that China’s behavior in waters contested with the Philippines “undermines regional peace and stability and is inconsistent with international law.”
“Military cooperation between the U.S. and the Philippines should not undermine China’s sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, still less should such cooperation support or advance the Philippines’ illegal claims,” Mao grumbled.
On Wednesday, Mao addressed a rumor that the Chinese Foreign Ministry changed the first character in the Chinese translation of Rubio’s name in an effort to circumvent the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, effectively treating Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a different person than Senator Marco Rubio.
“I am not yet aware of what you mentioned,” Mao told a reporter who asked about the name change.
“If you ask me, instead of how his name is translated in Chinese, it’s his actual name in English that is more important,” she added.
The Chinese embassy in Washington was similarly evasive when Radio Free Asia (RFA) asked about Rubio on Thursday.
“China will firmly defend national interests. In the meantime, it’s necessary for high-level Chinese and American officials to maintain contact in an appropriate way,” an embassy spokesman said.
The U.S. State Department told RFA that Rubio does not “have any travel to announce at this time,” mooting the question of whether a ban on his travel to China would be an obstacle. The State Department refused to comment on the potential significance of China changing the way it spells Rubio’s name.
