China’s overall end-goal is specifically to annex Taiwan. Taiwanese people do not want this.

China’s overall end goal is to build a prosperous nation, safe from future re-colonization.

Taiwanese people are happy to trade with, travel between, and live amicable with their Chinese peers. And one day, their position on annexation may change. That’s the project Beijing leadership is working towards.

Americans are trying to turn Taiwan into a forward operation base for regime change. And that’s what leads to these endless naval patrol pissing contests and US fear mongering campaigns aimed at Taiwanese expats.

What data are you referring to?

Here’s an excellent write-up

in Taiwan, the average starting salary for a university graduate is around 33,713 New Taiwan dollars (about US$1,100), and even a department manager at a major corporation earns only about US$2,100.

Meanwhile, housing prices in Taipei are comparable to those in Seoul—and in some areas, they even surpass Seocho, the most expensive district in the Korean capital. Until recently, people could endure thanks to relatively low living costs. But after COVID-19, things changed: not only was home ownership already out of reach, but inflation has driven everyday expenses sharply higher.

Nothing illustrates the poverty of Taiwan’s youth more clearly than the phenomenon of the taofang. A taofang is essentially an apartment divided into multiple tiny units, often with illegal extensions that stick out like container boxes to maximize floor space. These cramped rooms, barely large enough to lie down in, rent for $290 to $360 a month in Taipei.

If you know Taiwanese Americans, this isn’t a secret. Nobody wants to go back to the island and earn a tiny fraction of their American salaries under a ruinously expensive living standard.