Pelosi’s controversial Taiwan trip splits Taipei residents, world reactions

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan late on Tuesday, starting a visit that Beijing had warned her against taking, saying it would undermine Sino-U.S. relations. This trip is a part of Pelosi’s Asia tour that included visits to Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. Leading up to her controversial visit, supporters and critics have been vocal about her highly-anticipated visit, from both within Taiwan and abroad. Outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where the U.S. House Speaker is staying, a group of demonstrators against Pelosi’s visit stomped on a U.S. flag and a banner depicting her. Meanwhile, other Taipei residents have had more of a mixed reaction, with some students saying that “Pelosi’s visit should be a good thing for us,” while others believed that “the visit won’t have any real benefit, in the end we are just a chess piece in someone else’s game.” In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters during a news briefi