diff --git a/src/services/import/markdown.spec.ts b/src/services/import/markdown.spec.ts
index 297b68e2f..2a7330091 100644
--- a/src/services/import/markdown.spec.ts
+++ b/src/services/import/markdown.spec.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ describe("markdown", () => {
         expect(result).toBe(`<h2>Hello</h2><h2>world</h2><h2>another one</h2><p>Hello, world</p>`);
     });
 
-
     it("parses duplicate title with escape correctly", () => {
         const result = markdownService.renderToHtml(trimIndentation`\
             # What's new
@@ -108,4 +107,24 @@ second line 2</code></pre><ul><li>Hello</li><li>world</li></ul><ol><li>Hello</li
         expect(markdownService.renderToHtml(input, "Title")).toStrictEqual(expected);
     });
 
+    it("maintains code blocks with XML/HTML", () => {
+        const input = trimIndentation`\
+            Before
+            \`\`\`
+            <application
+                ...
+                android:testOnly="false">
+                ...
+            </application>
+            \`\`\`
+            After`;
+        const expected = trimIndentation`\
+            <p>Before</p><pre><code class="language-text-x-trilium-auto">&lt;application
+                ...
+                android:testOnly="false"&gt;
+                ...
+            &lt;/application&gt;</code></pre><p>After</p>`;
+        expect(markdownService.renderToHtml(input, "Title")).toStrictEqual(expected);
+    });
+
 });
diff --git a/src/services/import/markdown.ts b/src/services/import/markdown.ts
index 8f4973082..aa714d253 100644
--- a/src/services/import/markdown.ts
+++ b/src/services/import/markdown.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ class CustomMarkdownRenderer extends Renderer {
             return "";
         }
 
+        // Escape the HTML.
+        text = utils.escapeHtml(text);
+
+        // Unescape &quot
+        text = text.replace(/&quot;/g, '"');
+
         const ckEditorLanguage = getNormalizedMimeFromMarkdownLanguage(lang);
         return `<pre><code class="language-${ckEditorLanguage}">${text}</code></pre>`;
     }
@@ -66,6 +72,7 @@ import htmlSanitizer from "../html_sanitizer.js";
 import importUtils from "./utils.js";
 import { getMimeTypeFromHighlightJs, MIME_TYPE_AUTO, normalizeMimeTypeForCKEditor } from "./mime_type_definitions.js";
 import { ADMONITION_TYPE_MAPPINGS } from "../export/markdown.js";
+import utils from "../utils.js";
 
 function renderToHtml(content: string, title: string) {
     let html = parse(content, {
@@ -75,7 +82,7 @@ function renderToHtml(content: string, title: string) {
 
     // h1 handling needs to come before sanitization
     html = importUtils.handleH1(html, title);
-    html = htmlSanitizer.sanitize(html);
+    // html = htmlSanitizer.sanitize(html);
 
     // Remove slash for self-closing tags to match CKEditor's approach.
     html = html.replace(/<(\w+)([^>]*)\s+\/>/g, "<$1$2>");