Despite all the saber rattling and meddling by China the people made their own decision, effectively giving a big middle finger to Dictator Xi.

As a casual watcher of Taiwanese politics it's obvious that this is something they deeply care about and wouldn't give up easily. The campaigns were vibrant, the election itself was conducted in an orderly fashion and people voted in droves. It's fundamentally incompatible with how things operate across the strait and the people couldn't be more different, especially the younger generations. The Taiwan the CCP wanted is dying, if not already dead.