I'm fully expecting to get flamed for this entry, maybe by Huffy Henry, so I'm putting on my asbestos suit in advance...
Anyhow... here are my views on the Taiwanese vs Chinese waishengren issue, inspired by Sammy's recent entry. This entry will probably only be of interest to Chinese and Taiwanese, so just to warn you...
First off, I'm no KMT symphathizer, and certainly no PRC one either. Furthermore, I have no problem with Taiwanese asserting their "ethnic identity", speaking Taiwanese, or denouncing (rightfully) the crimes that the KMT perpetrated on the Taiwanese populace. What I am vigorously opposed to is any attempt at Taiwanese political independence. I will say that I am unabashedly pro-China, and a China and Taiwan as a single political unit (note, I did not say Taiwan should part of the PRC... just China and Taiwan should be one) is in the mutual best interest of all parties concerned.
I'm opposed to many of the things the KMT did myself. Just like say, South Korea under General Park, Taiwan under Chiang Kai-Shek was effectively a dictatorship with many faults, and by no means any sort of democracy. However, if the Nationalists hadn't come to Taiwan and established a foothold there post World War II, you can bet that the Communists would have done so in short order, and I'm sure even the most staunchest denouncer of the KMT will agree that despite any atrocities committed by Chinese troops under the direction of the KMT government, they would have paled to the suffering that would have ensued during the tumultuous years of the 1950s and 60s had Taiwan been a part of Communist China. So yeah, it's basically a question of the lesser evil vs. the greater one, and I definitely know which was the lesser one.
Fast forward to the present: look at the amount of investment Taiwan is pouring into China, in terms of semiconductors, IT, etc. China provides a vast market, both of labor and of consumers of Taiwanese goods, and likewise in the other direction as well. One needs only to look at the investment figures to see that like it or not, Taiwan and China are in a symbiotic relationship without which neither country would have been able to achieve their current economic state right now.
So, if the hotheaded Taiwanese want to be anti-Chinese -- fine. If they really want nothing to do with China, fine... declare independence just like the US did with Britain. Now, we Chinese probably won't be too happy about that, and we might even start a war -- again, like Britain and the US. But if you win, I'm sure eventually we'll recognize you -- like Britain and the US.
But in any case, I'm annoyed at those (and I'm definitely not saying that Sammy or anyone else I know fits into this category, so please don't take it personally) who are blindly "anti-China" and "pro-Taiwan" and their ignorance of historical and current realities.