Marco Rubio will become the first sitting US Secretary of State under Chinese sanctions to visit Beijing.
Images of Rubio leaving for China on Air Force One with Donald Trump appear to have answered previous questions about whether he would skip such a globally important event.
Rubio is also serving as the US National Security Adviser and would normally have been expected to visit China to lay the groundwork for such a high-stakes summit.
Instead he has met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi twice on the sidelines of events held outside China.
He is widely viewed as a leading contender for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, with polls consistently placing him among the front-runners.
Although no one has declared their candidacy this far out, Trump has already floated the idea of a “dream team ticket” pairing Rubio with Vice-President J.D. Vance.
Rubio first sought the presidency in 2016 but suspended his campaign after losing the primary in his home state of Florida to Trump.
Trump is the first US president to visit China for almost nine years and key issues such as the future of global trade, Taiwan and hi-tech competition are all expected to be discussed when he meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland. The US, in common with most countries, does not recognise the island as an independent state but it is opposed to any attempt to seize it by force.
The Chinese authorities have not publicly confirmed whether they would drop the sanctions to allow Rubio to visit, but recent statements from the foreign ministry have suggested there would be some diplomatic flexibility.
In March, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian replied to a question about the sanctions by saying they were “aimed at Rubio’s words and deeds concerning China during his tenure in the US Senate”.
In January last year, the ministry responded to another question about the issue by saying it was necessary to maintain appropriate contacts between senior Chinese and US officials.
Rubio built a reputation as one of the most vocal critics of Beijing during his 14 years in the Senate and repeatedly described China as a threat to US interests.
He was sanctioned twice by Beijing in 2020 in retaliation for US measures targeting Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and mainland and Hong Kong officials over their handling of the 2019 protests in the city.
Beijing never detailed what consequences Rubio would face, though such sanctions typically bar entry to China for the targeted individuals and their immediate families and also freeze any financial assets within China.
Sources previously told the South China Morning Post that Rubio had until recently appeared to show little interest in invitations to visit China, but was now expected to travel with Trump.
They said his previous reluctance may have been down to the fact that trade – an issue where Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has taken the lead – was expected to dominate the agenda and he may also have been reluctant to give the impression he was softening his hardline stance on China. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
