Comment TAIPEI, Taiwan — There were signs that Taiwanese were both excited and anxious about Nancy Pelosi’s visit during the roughly 18 hours she and other US lawmakers spent on the island. “The more unhappy [Chinese Communist Party] is, the happier I am,” Taipei resident Ingrid Ho, 35, told the Washington Post on Wednesday. “Pelosi’s arrival could mean all kinds of consequences, but right now excitement trumps 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 afraid,” Ho said. “We’re at the center of this conflict, but in some ways I still feel like a bystander — just curious how this is going to play out.” Pelosi has long been a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, winning her admirers among those who support Taiwan independence. In 1991, Pelosi visited Beijing and held a black-and-white banner in Tiananmen Square to honor the victims of the 1989 massacre that read, “To those who died for democracy.” In recent years, he has been an ardent supporter of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. At Taipei’s Songshan Airport on Tuesday, a small group of supporters waited to greet Pelosi — and the atmosphere felt “like the countdown to the new year,” Lin Ching-yi, a lawmaker from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, wrote on Facebook. . “I am very happy that Speaker Pelosi came to show her support,” said 72-year-old Liu Yueh-hsia, holding a banner that read: “Speaker Pelosi, welcome to the Republic of Taiwan.” Liu, who has supported Taiwan’s formal independence for decades, added: “We have nothing to do with China. We don’t want to be united with them.” Taipei 101, Taiwan’s tallest skyscraper, was lit up with welcome messages for Pelosi in English and Chinese. Elsewhere on the island, however, small groups of protesters, including those who support unification with China, ran over American flags and held signs disparaging Pelosi and urging the American delegation to go home. One held a sign calling Pelosi an “American witch.” At a press conference with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday, Pelosi was asked what she could offer Taiwan to offset the potential costs to the island — including economic retaliation from China — as a result of her visit. . She responded that her visit was part of a broader US effort for “better economic exchanges” with Taiwan and said that “significant” Taiwanese businesses are already planning to invest in manufacturing in the United States. He also praised “the ingenuity, the entrepreneurial spirit, the brains, the intellectual resource that exists in Taiwan” and called the island’s technology sector a “role model.” White House spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that “China is positioned to take further steps” as a result of Pelosi’s visit — which could include more military exercises near Taiwan and measures of “economic coercion,” he said. “We expect them to continue to react in the long term,” he added. On Thursday, China blacklisted two Taiwanese non-profit organizations linked to Taiwan’s foreign ministry, a move that local reports say is a response to Pelosi’s visit. “Beijing’s intimidation would achieve nothing except to stoke Taiwanese antipathy towards China,” Lai Jui-lung, a lawmaker with Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, told the Taipei Times. “We urge the communist regime in China to stop before it falls into an abyss.” Although most Taiwanese believe war is the last thing China wants, some are still concerned about the short-term consequences of the visit. Zamake Chang, 30, an engineer from Taoyuan, said Wednesday he spent the day looking at flights from Taiwan’s main airport to see if there had been any disruptions. “I’m supposed to be traveling abroad soon and I’m quite worried that the Chinese military maneuvers will block us and I won’t be able to go,” he said. “Before the war in Ukraine started, people were also saying that Russia would not invade,” he added. “Historically, there have been many wars that started suddenly. So really, it’s pretty tense right now.” Annabelle Timsit, Vic Chiang and Pei-Lin Wu contributed to this report.