The US Secretary of State Rubio flies to China in a tracksuit like Maduroʼs and with a new name

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with President Donald Trump, traveled to China for talks with the countryʼs leader Xi Jinping.

White House Communications Director Stephen Chung posted a photo of Rubio aboard Air Force One, wearing a Nike Tech suit — the same one that then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wore when he was kidnapped by the U.S. military in January of this year.

“Secretary Rubio flaunts his Nike Tech Venezuela suit aboard Air Force One!” Chun captioned the photo.

In addition, as AFP writes, Rubio will likely enter China under a new name in Chinese. This is because when he was a US senator, he fiercely defended human rights in China, for which Beijing imposed sanctions against him.

But when Rubio became secretary of state, sources say, China began using a different character for the first syllable of his last name, in order to change the spelling and remove him from the sanctions.

Marco Rubio was the lead author of a congressional bill that imposed sweeping sanctions on China over its alleged use of forced labor against the predominantly Muslim Uighur minority, and he has also spoken out against Beijingʼs crackdown on Hong Kong.

During his confirmation hearings for Secretary of State, Rubio focused heavily on China, calling it an unprecedented adversary.

However, since taking office, Rubio has supported Trump, who calls Chinese leader Xi Jinping a friend, and has focused on building trade relations.

Meanwhile, Rubio brought some relief to Taiwan last year when he said the Trump administration would not negotiate the future of the self-governing democracy in order to reach a trade deal with China.

• On Tuesday, May 12, Trump and a delegation traveled to China to meet with Xi Jinping to discuss, among other things, trade, energy and Taiwan.
• The visit was originally scheduled for March, but Trump postponed it until May because of the war with Iran. Experts say both sides are interested in stabilizing relations, but suggest that a war with Iran could weaken the US position in the negotiations.

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