I think you may have missed something when talking to them.

1) Taiwan is de-facto independent and PRC has 0 direct control over them.

2) The reason why Taiwanese passports say “Republic of China” is because they are also claiming to be the real Chinese government.

1) The PRC exerts indirect control over Taiwan's economy by pressuring its trading partners, so the distinction is academic.

2) That's a historic stance and not one claimed by most Taiwanese people today. Meanwhile, PRC passports devote a page to each province of China, including a page for Taiwan.

The distinction is far from academic.

China itself is Taiwan's top trading partner

https://www.trade.gov.tw/english/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeID=94...

Followed by the US. China does not need to "pressure its trading partners".

Taiwan has its own currency, does not pay tax to the mainland, has a real democracy, and is an ally to the US.

Chinese passports can devote a page to whereever they want, it means nothing.

Interesting fact... phone numbers in the Taiwanese capital begin 02. That's because when the KMT invaded, they reserved 01 for Nanjing, their base of operations when they were the mainland government, and for whatever reason they wanted to believe they would be able to retake it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_Taiwan#Ar...

Does this mean Taiwan owns Nanjing? :-) Nor does the passport page act as a deed of ownership for Taiwan...

And Taiwan isn't even one of China's top ten trading partners. So who has more power over the other?

The passport thing doesn't mean anything in and of itself. That's not the point.

You actually claimed:

>> The PRC exerts indirect control over Taiwan's economy by pressuring its trading partners, so the distinction is academic.

That's not what happens. What does happen is China pressures international bodies like the UN and the Olympic committee to pretend if they want to talk to Taiwan, they must talk to only China.

But it has mainly cosmetic effect... eg, despite all that effort, Taiwanese passports (not issued by China) are recognized almost everywhere except China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan_passport#Limitations_in...

Of course the nuclear-armed mainland is bigger and scarier than a small island of 20-something million with only conventional forces. But China has not been suppressing Taiwan's trade as you wrongly said, it has been encouraging and benefitting from it to the point it's the #1 partner with double the value of the US.

China has more power, obviously, but most of their claims are purely cosmetic, since if they wanted to truly absorb Taiwan they can put a whole lot more pressure on Taiwan than

1) letting them open factories and conduct business in China

2) letting them visit and vacation in China

3) trade with China at all

If you want an example of an actual embargo check out Iran, Cuba, for great examples of pointless aggression (from the US).

Taiwan acts as an independent country. That's why they have independent elections for a president, etc. They have different beauractic bodies and welfare programs.

There are many more examples of how Taiwan is a separate country. The distinction is far from academic.

1) Such soft power is exerted by PRC everywhere in the region, and even against the US as exemplified by the trade "war" (it takes two to fight a war). If Taiwan was under the thumb of China then it wouldn't be able to, or need, to ban Chinese social media.

2) Same can be said for average PRC citizens too—they're not really day-to-day concerned about owning Taiwan. They often travel there for vacation too.

1) So why doesn't Taiwan have a seat at the UN?

2) That just indicates that the PRC will continue to exert soft power over Taiwan instead of something more overt.

They have real independence. I hope they get to keep it.