Dhaka, May 14 -- China has used a diplomatic workaround to allow US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to enter the country despite sanctions previously imposed on him by Beijing.

Rubio accompanied US President Donald Trump during Trump's first visit to China since returning to office.

According to Al Jazeera, Chinese authorities altered the transliteration of Rubio's surname in official documents ahead of the visit.

"China has done that using a sleight of hand: His name is spelled different in official documents for this visit," said Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher.

Instead of using the Chinese character previously linked to sanctions, officials adopted a different character with a similar pronunciation, referring to him as "Marco Lu".

The mov...