If their attitude of independence mirrors that of Texas I applaud them for that alone.
Do they have nukes?
I have read that they really don’t have the ability to defend their island on their own.
A military confrontation between China and Taiwan would be pretty devastating mostly to Taiwanese civilians, but it’d be no cakewalk for the PRC. The Taiwan strait is choppy and difficult water and there are few decent landing sites on the Western side of the Island.
Central Taiwan is mountainous, heavily forested, extremely difficult terrain to take and hold. Taiwan has, up until very recently, had conscription: its entire male population has military training.
Also, the tech Taiwan has is relatively modern and supplied by the US.
On the other side are the kabillion-and-one missiles aimed at the country by the PRC, as well as the nuclear threat. Taiwan in a non-nuclear state, though it does use nuclear power.
Also, there are laws in the US mandating that America militarily support Taiwan against Chinese action.
The people who would suffer the most would be Taiwanese civilians, but the Chinese military would be hard-pressed in an all-out confrontation and it would likely expose the serious weaknesses in their armed forces. Not to mention, it would quite likely trigger World-War Three.