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 briefing that "we hope that the U.S. officials will clearly understand the importance, sensitivity and danger of this issue." Moscow has also expressed their support for Beijing, saying that “we consider the settlement of the situation in the Taiwan Strait to be an internal matter for China.”