Taiwan street searches on Baidu Map creates big buzz on social media

Searches for China’s Taiwan region on Baidu Map, a popular Chinese navigation app, were 1,000 times greater than normal on Friday, after the mapping service received significant attention on mainland social media platforms because of netizens’ ability to peruse Taiwan’s streets. Many of them expressed huge interest in Taiwan as they discovered that streets, buildings and even snack bars on the island could be searched while using popular online maps on the mainland such as Baidu Map and Gaode Map. The enhanced public attention came after United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week. By…