China only wants Taiwan because Taiwan has become more successful and prosperous than China. China wants this prosperity
It is a misconception to say that China only wants Taiwan because it is prosperous. If Hong Kong/Macau were the size of Taiwan, and with the population to boot, then it would have a much larger GDP.
It is also a misconception to say that the Communists are nasty and the Nationalists were nasty, and that the bureaucrats of the last Imperial dynasty were ineffectual. It's these sort of sweeping generalisations about history that colour our minds towards ideologies. Yes, Chiang kai-shek may have been power-hungry, and yes the death of the Dowager Empress may have jump started the last days of Qin, but IT NEVER STARTED OFF THAT WAY.
The Nationlist revolution was based on idealistic principles, principles that the Kuomingtang in Taiwan still espouse in theory. However it did not arise BECAUSE Imperial China was corrupt or ineffectual, but was part of the symptoms of culture shock that affected the whole of China, with the foreign engagement in the 19th century. Communist propaganda aside, foreign imperial tendencies did make a sizeable impression in China, with the French, English, German, American, Dutch, all having trade concessions like Hong Kong. In the French concession in Shanghai, there was a park with a sign that said: "No Dogs and Chinese allowed". Can you imagine? But that's another node.
Is Taiwan part of China? I say yes, because:
- Historical reasons: Contrary to other reports above, Taiwan has at least nominally been part of China since the late Han dynasty, and Chinese settlers were known to have been there in the Sung dynasty. That's almost two millenia of nominally being part of China. A long time by any other standards.
- One Nation, One People: Unlike the American colonies example quoted by Uberfetus, China is a largely culturally homogenous nation, and has a long tradition of unity stemming since long before the Roman empire. The unity of China as a country also has a significance beyond that of mere independence, it smarts faintly of the Mandate of Heaven.
- Sovereignity: Communist China claims to be the Middle Kingdom. Taiwan claims to be the rightful Middle Kingdom. There is a conflict. Who honestly has the right to that name? Did we call the Tzarist government-in-exile in London, Russia? By this same token, only Communist China has a decent claim to the name, under which it rules the vast majority of the Chinese people. It may change someday.
When Japan conquered Manchuria, it established a territory known as Manchukuo, and installed the last Emperor of Qin there (Manchuria is the homeland of the Qin dynasty). They also claimed to be China. Were they right?
Up to the last days of the Qin dynasty, there was a movement among Chinese to restore the former Ming dynasty, the last native Chinese dynasty (Manchurians are not native Chinese). They had a descendent of the Ming dynasty ready to install on the throne. They also claimed to be the rightful China. Were they?
Saying that Taiwan should be part of China is NOT a vote for Communism, as many people think it is. It is about the hearts and minds, and the unity of China, as a people, above and beyond ideologies.
There are plenty of overseas chinese who fled China because of the Communists. My family is one of them. My great-grandfather committed suicide as the Communists marched onto his lands. It was not communism itself they hated, but the violence, suffering, and the destruction of property that it brought. Whether communism falls because of the establishment of a democratic nation, or the rise of a new Imperial dynasty is moot, because we will not return there until suffering ends, or until when we are dead.