Don't feel too bad, both are pretty terrible with the whole democracy thing. Taiwan was basically a colony of China that were suffering from cultural erasure by the mainland big-shots who moved in after being defeated by the revolutionaries in the mainland. Basically they got in and started micromanaging the shit out of the island after losing all their relevance. "Taiwan" today, or more accurately, "The Republic of China", claims ownership of the whole nation of China, both the island and the mainland territory, where they are very unpopular (Well, to the people who even acknowledge their existence. It's like a dude living in a bathtub in your garden claiming to own your house.)
Taiwan suffered under autocratic hereditary mainland ruling until the redemocratization in the nineties (Yes, they are even younger in democracy than my country, and we barely got 32 years now.), and arguably only had disputed elections during the 2020 elections when the DPP got majority in the legislative, who claim to want independence, but who everyone knows won't do jack for it.
In it's current state, it is pretty safe to say Taiwan gets way more rep than it deserves. Let's hope that with the recent developments they can truly become an independent nation, and not the playground of a dead government's remains.
As for China itself, even if you discount all the propaganda around it, its clear they have way more important stuff to deal with than seeking control over a territory whose populace couldn't give two shits. Stopping the 'indirect elections for the executive' bullshit that they have been dragging their feet on for decades already would be a great start. China may be democratic, but suffers from the exact same problem the US does: Sure, you don't need to be affiliated to a party to compete, but no independent will ever amount to anything, and it's on purpose.