I always find it silly how Westerners have no grasp of reunification in a non-military manner.

In the same way say, France and Germany might have a unified economy or Canada and the US might have a unified culture, it's entirely possible to maintain legislative and/or budgetary independence under a unified front. In fact, that's already more-or-less true of China's governments: the proportion of government spending at the federal level is only 15% of all government spending. This includes spending for defence, science & technology, public security, public services, education, and diplomacy.

I love how westerners consider political capture of a rogue province of Taiwan by US cool and normal. Just imagine how much foaming at the mouth there would be if Russia started backing a separatist government in Texas. I mean libs are still losing their shit over the made up Russiagate conspiracy, so I guess we don't have to imagine.