Does it benefit China to see an independent Taiwan?

[ray245]

As ties between Taiwan and China has been improving, it is fairly certain that Taiwan will not declare independent in the near future. However, the issue of a independent Taiwan cannot be ruled out.

Now, if China does not seek military action if Taiwan declared its independent, it is more or less certain that Taiwanese will gain many benefits of being part of a fully a fully recognised and independent state. However, the point of this thread is not to discuss does it benefit Taiwan to seek independence, but discuss about China's benefit from supporting such a action.

Mainland China has often argued that allowing Taiwan to seek formal independence means other independence group to gain momentum, and undermine the power of the Central government.

So, is this argument really valid? Would the harm of allowing Taiwan to declare independence peacefully outweighs the benefits?