But to those who identify with China, this does not pose a problem. They generally believe that concerns over Taiwan perishing as a result of integration is much ado about nothing, at best the narrow-minded thinking of an "islander" ideology. After all, they believe that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China.
With 50 percent of China's foreign investment coming from Taiwan, the latter has become the world's largest foreign investor in China.
Moreover, it is the country that is the most integrated into China, with more than 40 percent of Taiwan's exports going there and more than 1 million long-term China-based Taiwanese businesspeople living there. But people who advocate an "economic one China" not only fail to sense the danger but are convinced that there isn't enough integration, and that Taipei is isolating the country.
Huang Tien-lin is a former national policy adviser to the president.
Translated by Lin Ya-ti
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