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The vast, vast majority of them are ethnic Chinese.

The thing to realise is that this is really a divide and conquer game by the West.

The West has always recognised that Taiwan is a part of China. Not least of course when the recognised government of China was the ROC government.

Now the West recognises the PRC as the government of China, but this means that trying to stroke an 'independentist' sentiment in Taiwan becomes a tactic to weaken them.

[ThatIsNotTrue]

America, for one, recognizes Taiwan as an independent country ("province") and has enough weight that they can do that. Other countries, especially those in Europe, are not big enough to be able to do so and still maintain a trade relationship with China, and default to the choice that makes economical sense.