As Beijing rages over Taiwan, mood on China’s streets muted
BEIJING: China's thunderous response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit brought cross-Strait tensions to their highest level in years and sparked an outpouring of nationalist zeal online, but the mood on the streets in mainland China is a little more circumspect.
Enraged by Pelosi's trip, Beijing last week launched some of its largest military drills encircling the island while suspending cooperation with the United States on issues including climate change and defence.
China's tight grip over the Internet, with a massive system of censorship that scrubs posts casting the Communist Party's policies in a negative light, has limited public debate over just how far Beijing should go in its showdown over Taiwan.
While it is difficult to gauge Chinese public opinion, experts say...