~~Reunify~~ Conquer.
If Taiwan loses its independence, it will immediately lose its status as a special place for cheap manufacturing of high tech chips. It will just be another island. I don't understand how China doesn't get this.
If I were in Xi's shoes I would cease the blustering and focus more on partnering. Guarantee their independence. Protect it, in fact. Let them know that China is not a threat to their freedoms and give them special protection when visiting China so Taiwanese citizens can participate in both economies simultaneously.
Simple things like NOT treating their criticisms of the Chinese government as crimes would go a long way towards peaceful cooperation.
Of course, China considers criticism of China to be extremely anti-China and must not be allowed. It apparently never occurs to them that this lack of freedom is the very thing that gets in the way of their technological development.
It's cultural from the ground up, too: If the boss was appointed by the Chinese government (or just close with the one ruling party), criticism of the boss is considered criticism of China. You can't get much innovation out of a workplace where critical feedback can result in your arrest.
Even the bosses at employers can have their decisions overruled by the government and there's nothing they can do about it. This lack of freedom is what leads to situations like this:
"OK... I guess we're putting melamine in the baby formula."