DENVER - Taiwan’s president was greeted by a large group of supporters and a handful of pro-China protesters as she entered a downtown Denver hotel before dinner.

President Tsai Ing-wen plans to be in Colorado for two days on her way back home after visiting Caribbean countries with which Taiwan has diplomatic relations. She will dine Friday with officials, some of whom travelled from Wyoming, which recently opened a trade office in Taiwan.

The U.S. visit comes about six months before a general election in Taiwan and amid rising frustration from China over the Trump administration’s sales of sophisticated weapons to Taiwan, as well as Tsai’s independence policy.

Supporter Cheng Chih Ko, who is visiting Denver from Tainan, Taiwan, says, “We’re not part of China” and “we’re here to support our president and here to support our own country.”