It's like East and West Germany, or North or South Korea. Whether the opposing sides accept each others as separate states the key remains that they are split countries that will strive to reunify. In the case of China the split is massively unequal, which might give more ideas to the stronger side.

If anything the semiconductor industry is a result of this. Taiwan/ROC needed to develop to survive and it made its industry vital for the world, which make them important instead of simply a puny island off the coast of mainland China.