TAIPEI, Taiwan -- U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater arrived in Taipei today, and said President Reagan's trip to Peking later this month is ill-advised because communist China is 'beyond hope.' Goldwater, R-Ariz. and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was in Taiwan for a 4-day visit that will include meetings with his longtime friend, President Chiang Ching-Kuo, and other top officials.
The senator is scheduled to move on to Seoul on Tuesday, a Taipei government official said.
Goldwater, a staunch supporter of the nationalist Chinese government on the island of Taiwan, told reporters that Reagan's upcoming visit to mainland China is 'a mistake.'
'I don't think he is going to accomplish anything,' he said. 'Nobody can accomplish anything with mainland China. They are beyond hope.'
Goldwater said in a statement before leaving Washington Thursday that the United States 'should not attempt to build up communist China's military power because it would pose graver threat to the non-socialist nations of the Pacific.'
