There's a major difference between autonomy and independence. Just because the government of the PRC doesn't micromanage the province does not mean that they are independent.
Really? Either my or your understanding of the subject has to be out of touch with reality here.
Can you explain in what way is Taiwan "autonomous", as opposed to independent from PRC? When and how does Taiwan take orders from Beijing?
From what I know about the situation, the island of Taiwan is administered by the RoC government, which doesn't take any orders from Beijing at all. Hence, the island is de-facto independent from mainland China. I see no "autonomy" anywhere in sight.
RoC still claims to represent China, of course, and has claims on all of PRC plus some more territory, so the conflict between the two is still a civil war as opposed to a war of independence. But I don't understand how this is supposed to negates the fact that RoC government is independent from PRC, and consequently Taiwan is independent from PRC?
If the question was asking, "Do you think Taiwan is independent from China," without specifying which Chinese government is being talked about, then you would have a point. But the question is clearly talking about P.R.China, which is the government in Beijing.....