Bush gets cold shoulder on his arrival in Peking

August 21, 1980

Republican vice-presidential candidate George Bush arrived from Tokyo Wednesday for a four-day visit, denied Ronald Reagan has a "two China" policy, and was given an unofficial government cold shoulder.

The official Xinhua news agency departed from its normal policy of officially announcing important visitors and totally ignored his arrival. Instead, it ran a news story from Washington quoting Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke as saying the proposal by GOP presidential candidate Reagan to re-establish official ties with Taiwan would adversely affect Chinese-American relations -- a view shared strongly by worried Peking leaders.