US Republican Senator Marco Rubio File Photo: VCG

US Republican Senator Marco Rubio is a Cuban American who lies about his family history and life experience, as well as being a politician who is against China on everything. 

Rubio filed legislation on Monday that would prevent Chinese company Huawei from seeking damages relating to patents from US companies, Reuters reported. 

In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said on Thursday that a Senator of a country which prides itself with democracy and rule of law should propose legislation to thwart and curtail foreign companies' efforts to defend legitimate rights and interests through legal means. It is small wonder that such a preposterous move has triggered strong domestic and international responses.

Rubio is a hard-line anti-China Senator who has been calling for the closure of all Confucius Institutes in the US, as well as suggesting blocking Chinese high-tech companies. He has also been meeting "Tibet independence" leaders and promoting the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act."

It is no wonder that Rubio is called one of the loudest critics of China in the Trump administration.

Heinz Dieterich, a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and founder of the 21st Century Socialism theory, said that Rubio's anti-China efforts will not succeed.

From adversary to lackey

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday formally launched his re-election campaign in Orlando, Florida. 

"It's very strange, for those of us who covered the 2016 campaign, to see Marco Rubio smiling and chuckling in this audience," Michael Barbaro, a New York Times reporter said Tuesday on Twitter.

Rubio soon replied on Twitter by saying that "In an unprecedented move a Republican Senator attended a rally in his home state in support of the re-election of a Republican President."

This year, Rubio has always been there with the president, whether it was Trump's re-election campaign or the president visiting an air force base damaged by a hurricane. 

But Barbaro and many Americans remember that during the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Rubio and Trump engaged in personal attacks against each other. After Jeb Bush and other moderate Republican candidates quit the race, Rubio was selected by pro-establishment Republicans as a new star to hinder Trump.

Dozens of Republicans supported Rubio, and threatened that if Trump became the Republican candidate, they would vote for Hillary Clinton.

During the primaries, Trump called Rubio, who is not tall, "Little Marco," and said Rubio "couldn't get elected dog catcher in Florida." In response, Rubio mocked trump's "horrible spray tan," "small hands" and strange hair. "He's flying around on Hair Force One," Rubio said.

Rubio also called Trump a "liar" many times and suggested there should be an investigation into the financial scandal at Trump University.

However, after Trump became president, his relationship with Rubio improved, and Rubio began to defend Trump's policies.

In the online battle with Barbaro, Rubio said he attended Trump's rally, "As opposed to smiling and chuckling at a rally for a radical liberal candidate for president who will undo policies to confront China, reduce regulations and taxes, defend liberty in Venezuela and protect the unborn?"

However, the Washington Post said that Rubio, in choosing to compromise with Trump, is thinking more about his own political career.

Rubio is still under 50 years old, and it is quite possible he could become US president in the future. Standing alongside Trump could improve Rubio's position in the Republican Party and boost his chances of entering the White House.

A deceptive 'bill nut'

A former US Congressional employee told the Global Times that Marco Rubio has been dubbed "bill nut" by Senate staff members. Senators usually focus on a specific sector as they bury their heads in daily work, while Rubio has shown a wide range of interests.

Rubio submitted the Sunshine Protection Act of 2018 to US Congress in March, requiring the application of daylight savings time (DST) nationwide to save energy and make use of sunlight. It is amusing that President Trump endorsed the act at a public event.

However, the Orlando Sentinel, from where Rubio is from, said that traffic accidents would increase due to fatigued drivers. In 2018, over 300 children in Florida died from traffic accidents during DST.

According to an investigation by the Global Times on US Senate bill statistics, Rubio is one of the most active bill writers among all Senators.

Since Rubio became a Senator, he has proposed 654 bills and co-sponsored another 1,802, averaging 300 bills annually. According to the annual 162 Senate working days, Rubio proposes two bills every day.

Rubio participated in four bill proposals on June 11, covering issues such as Federal firearms control, Central American women and children protection, anti-terrorism intelligence and affordable housing.

Senators like Rubio do not know much about that many problems, and they only propose bills to gain political influence and election merits. The truth is, most of Rubio's bills have remained in the "submission stage," with very few passing Congress to become an act.

As an influential Senator, Rubio is one of Trump's Congressional allies. According to the New Republic, Trump and Rubio have worked closely on Latin American issues, making the latter the "actual Secretary of State." Moreover, Trump has instructed the White House to satisfy Rubio on diplomacy policies toward Latin America.

Trump has been indifferent toward Latin America, as he not only cancelled his proposed visits to Peru and Colombia, but has also never visited Mexico.

It was not until the end of 2018 that Trump used the G20 Summit to pay his first visit to Latin America.

Meanwhile, Rubio lobbied the White House with an all-out effort to strengthen interference in Latin America, targeting sovereign countries Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

Under Rubio's influence, Trump recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the "legitimate" president of Venezuela, and interfered with the country's politics. The US also increased sanctions against Cuba.

It was also reported that Trump thought National Security Affairs adviser John Bolton and Rubio were not telling him truth about the Venezuela's situation, making him believe the Maduro administration would step down soon.

According to a report from El Economist, a Mexican business and economics newspaper, a high-ranking Russian official visiting Mexico was prohibited from flying over the Gulf of Mexico in April. The airplane was forced to land in Cuba because it couldn't land in Mexico City. The report also claimed that Rubio was behind the dispute between the US and Russia on the Venezuelan issue.

Since Rubio told President Trump that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Mexican President, was keeping close ties with the Maduro administration, hostility between the US and Mexico had increased.

According to the New Republic, the reason why President Trump put Rubio in such an important position was based on the Hispanic American votes that Rubio commands, and especially in Florida. The state is a vital stronghold for Trump's re-election campaign.

In 2016, Trump defeated Hilary Clinton by 110,000 votes, paving the way to the White House. There are 1.2 million Cuban Americans and nearly 200,000 Venezuelan migrants. Most of these migrants dislike the Cuban and Venezuelan government.

Trump believes that having a hand with Rubio will help gain support from Cuban Americans and help him secure the swing state.

Rubio does not take Trump's side all the time as he jointly handed the Middle East Act with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after Trump reiterated his plan to withdraw troops from Syria in January. 

The bill would require additional sanctions against the Syrian government to guarantee security assistance to countries including Israel and Jordan. Rubio also sent a co-written letter to the White House with almost 400 signatures, requesting US military forces remain in Syria. The White House was forced to suspend withdrawing troops under such pressure.

Political ambition not to be satisfied

In 2010, Rubio became a US Senator and was re-elected in 2016. The Senator from Florida has many roles. He chairs the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. 

Rubio is a member of the Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee and the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. He is co-chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). 

With 23 members from the government and Congress, CECC is seen as the source of many anti-China policies from the US government.

Last December, Rubio issued the statement claiming that China's efforts to sinicize religion are taking a "devastating human toll."

"Such a statement by US lawmaker Rubio is nonsense and not worth refuting because it is more proof of the habitual arrogance, ignorance, and egotism of a few Americans," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference. 

"Has he ever been to China? Would he like to do one real deed to take in all those influenced by the extremist and terrorist forces and let them enjoy 'absolute freedom' in the US?" Hua asked. 

Rubio, who has never visited China, is known for his anti-communist and anti-China politics in the US political arena, a fact attributed to his family background as some have analyzed.

Rubio believes the reason why Cuban immigrants, including himself, left their home country was because of former Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Born in May 1971 in Miami, Florida, Rubio's parents are both Cuban. They immigrated to the US in 1956 and became naturalized American citizens in 1975.

Rubio published his autobiography An American Son: A Memoir in 2012, in response to Washington Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia's biography, The Rise of Marco Rubio.

The books contradict one another. In Franzia's book, Rubio's parents arrived in the US before Castro came to power, and yet Rubio claims his parents arrived, "following Fidel Castro's takeover on the first day of 1959."

Since Rubio has never set foot in Cuba, he does not have feelings for the country, the Juventud Rebelde daily said.

Some reports have claimed that Rubio's parents lived in Miami and Las Vegas where they worked at hotels and restaurants. Cuban immigrants who came to the US between the 1950s and 1960s lost their property and privileges because of the revolution. A bitter hatred against the Cuban government and communism is rooted within this group. 

Statistics show that two-thirds of Cuban immigrants in Florida supported sanctions against Cuba.

In the 1990s, an impoverished Rubio earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a doctorate in law from the University of Florida with scholarships assisted by his rugby skills and student loans.

Rubio said he paid off his loans, which was more than $100,000, until 2012.

Rubio picked up his political position from his family with his grandfather being the first generation of Cuban immigrants. Despite family hardships, his grandfather was a loyal supporter of President Ronald Reagan, supporting conservative concepts.

Rubio would later find support from the Tea Party, a conservative group.

Tracking his public statements, it turns out Rubio rarely voiced his views on China issues when he served in the Florida State Council.

However, since his tenure as Senator, Rubio's proposals and remarks against China have surged. The reasons? It has something to do with both his personal background and the trend of US politics in recent years.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, the US economy has maintained moderate growth overall, but its gap between the rich and the poor has continued to expand and meanwhile US hegemonic advantage in the international community has constantly declined. 

The US elites point their fingers at China, claiming that China should be blamed for its decline. Rubio sharply captured this trend and became an advocator of the "China Threat Theory."

Rubio is also one of the leading Congressional figures who support "Taiwan independence."

One source in Taiwan told the Global Times that Rubio's relationship with the Kuomintang authorities was just regular, but he began to warm up to Taiwan after Tsai Ing-wen from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came into power.

Rubio visited Tsai at her hotel when she travelled through Florida. Rubio also sponsored the Taiwan Travel Law last year.

Rubio and other hard-liners called on US Congress to invite Tsai to give a speech in February. Rubio is so close to Taiwan, which is probably connected with Senator Bob Dole, his "mentor" who helped him with his political career. 

In 1996, Rubio, while still in school, worked for Dole, who was running for US president. After Dole retired, he was hired by Taiwan authorities to head a lobby group in D.C.

It is believed Dole helped the Taiwan authorities with many activities within US Congress, in which many Congressional members, including Rubio, attended. US media also revealed that the Taiwan authorities spent $140,000 on this Republican in 2016, who was 93 years old, to have a phone conversation with Trump. 

The reason why Rubio has maintained a strong anti-China attitude is to try to destroy China, as the country is the only US adversary in the world, but his ambition is impossible to achieve, Heinz Dieterich, a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and founder of 21st Century Socialism theory, to the Global Times.

Glib but questionable

Shortly after the 2012 presidential election, Rubio appeared on the cover of TIME magazine with the headline: "The Republican Savior." Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was seen as having lost the election because of his harsh anti-immigration rhetoric, while Rubio, a second-generation immigrant, could appeal to centrist voters on the issue.

Moreover, republicans see Rubio as young, handsome, moderate and eloquent, all qualities that are a plus in modern American electoral politics. More than four years ago, when Rubio was running for the White House, he tried to present the image of a "modernizing Republican Party" to Americans, with "an inclusive and sunny message," commented Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post.

The reality is not so impressive. In 2012, an immigration bill introduced by the Bipartisan Group led by Rubio failed to get passed by Congress. To top it all off, many right-wing voters and the media berated Rubio for being too friendly to illegal immigrants and for advocating amnesty for criminals who were in the US illegally. Many Tea Party members announced they were dropping their support for him.

The experience prompted Rubio to move toward the conservative side of immigration policy. Even though he is the son of Latin American immigrants, Rubio is moving closer to Donald Trump on illegal immigration and is causing resentment among other minorities.

In February 2018, 17 students were shot dead in a school shooting in Florida. Rubio was criticized by student groups for taking $3.3 million in political donations from the National Rifle Association and not being active enough on gun control. In response, Rubio said he supported raising the legal age for gun ownership from 18 to 21, but reiterated his support for gun ownership and refused to commit to not accepting any more NRA donations.

There are other times when Rubio has faced harsh questions from the US media. For example, Rubio was 16 years old when his brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, was arrested for being a cocaine dealer, The Washington Post reported in December 2015.

Initially, Rubio declined to answer questions about whether Cicilia had ever provided financial support for him or his family, or if he took any steps to help secure the early release of his brother-in-law from federal prison.

The questionable part is that Cicilia, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison, was released after staying in prison for less than 12 years - four days after Rubio won a special election to serve in the Florida House of Representatives in January 2000, according to The Washington Post. 

Rubio has also been criticized for encouraging the use of sanctions and military intervention in other countries. 

But analysts believe that if Trump fails in the 2020 election, it will also damage Rubio's chances of getting into the White House, as voters may desert him as a political ally of Donald Trump.