How Taiwan reacted to Pelosi’s visit, from ‘welcome’ to ‘American witch’

There were signs that Taiwanese people were both thrilled and anxious about Nancy Pelosi’s visit during the roughly 18 hours she and other U.S. lawmakers spent on the island.

“The more unhappy the [Chinese Communist Party] is, the happier I am,” Ingrid Ho, 35, a Taipei resident, told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “Pelosi coming may mean all kinds of consequences but in the moment, the excitement outweighs reason.”

Ho, like many of Taiwan’s 23 million citizens, has lived with China’s threats for decades. “Maybe it’s that Taiwanese people are used to being scared,” Ho said. “We are at the center of this conflict, but somehow I still feel like a bystander — just curious how this will turn out.”

Pelosi has been a longtime critic of the Chinese Communist Party, winning her fans among those who support Taiwan’s independence. In 1991, Pelosi visited Beijing and held up a black-and-white banner in Tiananmen Square to commemorate victims of the 1989 massacre that read: “To those who died for democracy.” In recent years, she has been an avid supporter of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.