Is Taiwan a part of China? Yes, no, maybe, who knows... The fact is, despite being officially unrecognized by the
United Nations, the
United States, and pretty much every country that counts,
Taiwan seems to be doing just fine on its own economically and socially (how many pieces of your
computer were
made in Taiwan? and the
Kuomintang has been giving way to more liberal and diverse parties with recent democratic elections).
Whatever your view on whether Taiwan is a part of China, it seems clear that China can't successfully capture Taiwan without destroying it. Therefore Taiwan is de facto independent of China, whether or not we actually say so. To me (an ABC, or American Born Chinese) the better question is, "Do we want Taiwan to be a part of China?" And my answer to that is NO...