Zhong Yiping Commentary Lashes out at Lai for Politicising Typhoon Relief - Zhu Weidong Warns 'Risk of Taiwan Independence Provoking War is Increasing'
Here are the key reports and articles that I found noteworthy from the People’s Daily’s edition on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Page 1: There’s not much about the engagements of the top leadership today too. We will, of course, see them in tomorrow’s paper, given that the EU-China summit takes place in Beijing today.
For today, the lead report informs that the three astronauts who took part in the Shenzhou-19 crewed mission have been awarded medals for services to China’s space endeavors. At the top of the page is a feature about the leadership’s focus on livelihood concerns. This covers areas like employment, education, skill development, healthcare, etc. There is an interesting sub-section on employment stabilisation.
“In order to encourage enterprises to actively absorb employment, Anhui has merged and implemented a one-time post expansion subsidy policy. For enterprises and social organizations that absorb college graduates and other youth for employment, a post expansion subsidy is issued at a standard rate of 1,000 yuan per person; or enterprises that employ college graduates, people with employment difficulties and other key groups and meet relevant conditions, social insurance subsidies or job subsidies will be given according to regulations. 为鼓励企业积极吸纳就业，安徽合并实施一次性扩岗补助政策，对企业及社会组织吸纳高校毕业生等青年就业的，按照每人1000元的标准发放扩岗补助；对企业招用高校毕业生、就业困难人员以及其他重点人群就业并符合相关条件的，按规定给予社会保险补贴或岗位补贴.
Nearly 190 million business entities are an important cornerstone of China's economy, bearing the employment and entrepreneurship of hundreds of millions of people, and are key to stabilising the basic employment foundation. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has increased the special loan quota for stabilizing and expanding employment, with a maximum credit of 50 million yuan for small and micro enterprises and 10 million yuan for individuals. Together with the Ministry of Finance, it has allocated 66.74 billion yuan in central employment subsidy funds. The scope of policy support for post expansion subsidies continues to widen, and the policies of job stabilization rebates and skills improvement subsidies continue to be implemented … the policy dividends of stabilizing and expanding employment are continuously being released.” 近1.9亿户经营主体是我国经济的重要基石，承载着数亿人的就业创业，是稳住就业基本盘的关键。人力资源社会保障部提高稳岗扩岗专项贷款额度，小微企业最高授信5000万元，个人最高授信1000万元，会同财政部下拨了667.4亿元的中央就业补助资金。持续拓宽扩岗补助政策支持范围，延续实施稳岗返还、技能提升补贴……稳岗扩岗的政策红利正在持续释放.
Next, there’s a report on the development of the AI industry in Shanghai. It says that:
In the first quarter of this year, the scale of Shanghai’s AI industry exceeded 118 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29%; profits increased by 65%, becoming an important engine driving the city’s economic growth.
At present, Shanghai has gathered more than 250,000 AI talents, ranking among the top in the country in terms of talent scale.
Finally, there’s a report informing that Hainan Free Trade Port will officially begin island-wide independent customs operations on December 18, 2025. There’s more information on this on Page 2. That report quotes NDRC deputy chief Wang Changlin (related English report).
“Under the new customs closure system, Hainan will expand zero-tariff goods coverage:
The proportion of duty-free imported goods will jump from 21 percent to 74 percent, covering around 6,600 product categories, up from the current 1,900. These goods can circulate tax-free among eligible businesses within Hainan.
Eight ports will serve as first-tier entry points, allowing expedited clearance for qualified imports, while 10 second-tier ports will manage goods entering the mainland. Goods produced by encouraged industries in Hainan that achieve at least 30 percent value-added processing can enter the mainland tariff-free.
The new policies aim to strengthen supply chains, attract foreign investment and foster industrial clusters in sectors like tourism, modern services, high-tech and tropical agriculture, which already account for 67 percent of Hainan's GDP.”
Page 3: There’s a brief report confirming that China and the US will hold the next round of their trade talks in Sweden. Vice Premier He Lifeng will travel to Sweden from July 27 to 30 for the talks.
Page 4: There’s a Zhong Yiping commentary, accusing Lai Ching-te of using Typhoon Danas “as an excuse” to pause his 10 Lectures tour after just delivering four. It adds:
“The disaster relief scene has become Lai Ching-te’s political show. Some disaster victims petitioned, saying some elderly people are 70 or 80 years old, asking whether the Taiwan military could assist in clearing large damaged items from their homes. Lai Ching-te responded: ‘The community should exert its strength, otherwise if everything relies on the Taiwan military, what if the Taiwan military has no time?’ The Taiwan military is ‘very busy’ because they’ve all been dispatched by Lai Ching-te to conduct the ‘Han Kuang exercises’. Creating war anxiety, fanning cross-strait confrontation, intensifying ‘seeking independence through force’, he does it with great delight; but when it comes to people’s livelihoods, the suffering in disaster areas, and the public’s demands, he turns a deaf ear. With his whole mind set on harvesting political gain, and entirely disregarding whether the disaster victims live or die, one must ask: where is Lai Ching-te’s humanity? Where is his bottom line?” 救灾现场已沦为赖清德的政治秀场。有受灾民众陈情，有些老人都已七八十岁，能否请台军协助清运家中毁坏的大型物件。赖清德则回应称：社区要发挥力量，不然什么事情都靠台军，如果台军没空怎么办？台军是“没空”，因为都被赖清德安排去搞“汉光演习”了。制造战争焦虑，煽动两岸对抗，加紧“以武谋独”，他不亦乐乎；对民生福祉，对灾区苦难，对大众诉求，他置若罔闻。一门心思捞取政治私利，全然不顾灾民死活，赖清德人性何在，底线何在？
Disaster relief investment has already been seriously insufficient and disaster relief actions have also been consistently inefficient and slow, yet Lai Ching-te still wants to engage in political calculations and differential treatment, forcibly turning the sensational ‘impurity theory’ from the ‘four lectures’ into reality. This typhoon has already brought losses to agricultural sectors such as bananas and pomelos across many counties and cities in southern and central Taiwan. Among them, Yunlin County, governed by the blue camp, suffered a heavy blow. However, Lai Ching-te excluded it from relief assistance. Suppressing opposition forces by any means necessary, feigning a sense of unity with all sectors of society…what is narrow-mindedness, what is cold-bloodedness, Lai Ching-te has given a vivid and true demonstration. It is foreseeable that this time he has used the typhoon to make a political point, and in the future, Lai Ching-te will exploit more pretexts and occasions to eliminate political dissidents and purge ordinary citizens, seeking to fulfil his fantasy of removing ‘impurities’. The harm of ‘green dictatorship’ and ‘green terror’ to Taiwan society will be ten times, a hundred times worse than typhoons! 救灾投入本就严重不足，救灾行动一直低效缓慢，赖清德还要搞政治算计、区别对待，硬是把“四讲”中耸人听闻的“杂质说”变成了现实。此次台风给台湾中南部多县市香蕉、文旦柚等种植业带来惨重损失。其中，蓝营执政的云林县遭受重创。然而，赖清德却将其排除在救助之外。打压在野力量不择手段，团结社会各方虚情假意，什么是狭隘，什么是冷血，赖清德作了生动真实演绎。可以预见，这次是通过台风做文章，未来赖清德还将借助更多事由和场合剪除政治异己、清洗普通民众，实现打掉“杂质”的幻想。“绿色独裁”“绿色恐怖”对台湾社会的危害，将比台风更甚十倍百倍！
“A natural disaster has completely shattered the lies Lai Ching-te wove in the ‘four lectures.’ Lai Ching-te loudly shouts ‘unity’, ‘democracy’, and ‘protecting Taiwan’, but actually puts consolidating personal power and competing for partisan interests first, while rendering ‘China threat’, stirring people’s emotions, and shifting social contradictions, and using empty concepts and false history to bewitch people’s hearts. As for economic and livelihood issues that truly concern the people’s lives and Taiwan’s future, Lai Ching-te neither truly cares nor has the ability to solve them. Since Lai Ching-te took office more than a year ago, problems such as ‘lack of water, electricity, land, workers, and talent’ on the island have become more prominent. Key core industries. such as chip manufacturing represented by TSMC, are being gradually hollowed out. Even the ‘nuclear-free homeland’ and ‘green energy’ policies that the DPP has boasted about for years have further gone bankrupt in this typhoon. Saying one thing and meaning another, honeyed words with a sword on the waist…Lai Ching-te’s persona has collapsed, and the latest polls on the island have already reacted: his governing satisfaction rating plummeted 5.8 percentage points, showing a ‘death cross’ again, creating the worst record since he took office.” 一场自然灾害，彻底把赖清德在“四讲”中编织的谎言击得粉碎。赖清德口中高喊“团结”“民主”“守护台湾”，实际却把巩固个人权力、争夺党派利益放在首位，一边渲染“中国威胁”、挑动社会情绪、转嫁社会矛盾，一边用空洞的概念、虚假的历史蛊惑人心。而真正事关民众生活和台湾未来的经济、民生问题，赖清德既不真正关心，也没有能力解决。赖清德上任一年多来，岛内“缺水、缺电、缺地、缺工、缺人才”等问题更加突出，以台积电为代表的芯片制造等关键核心产业被逐步掏空，就连民进党吹嘘多年的“非核家园”与“绿色能源”政策也在此次台风中进一步破产。口是心非，口蜜腹剑，赖清德人设崩塌，岛内最新民调已经做出反应：其执政满意度骤降5.8个百分点，再现“死亡交叉”，创其上任以来最糟纪录.
“‘Sweet talk before the election, frost after the vote’, Lai Ching-te is hollow in conscience and bankrupt in character. Treating Taiwan’s disaster-stricken people with dictatorship and tyranny only reveals this conclusion: ‘Taiwan independence’ harbours evil intentions and wins no hearts. Since coming to power, Lai Ching-te has been speeding down the evil path of ‘Taiwan independence’. Apart from making the noose around his own neck tighter and tighter, apart from pushing Taiwan people toward military danger and the peril of war, what other ‘achievements’ are there? More and more people in Taiwan are now seeing clearly: in the hearts and minds of the Chinese nation, and under the current international situation, the ‘joint defense’ and ‘protection’ that Lai Ching-te repeatedly seeks from external forces are mere illusions. Any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ is a dead end. What Lai Ching-te is doing will only, in effect, accelerate the historical process of reunification.” “选前蜜语选后霜”，赖清德良心空洞，人格破产，以独裁专横对待受灾的台湾民众，所揭示的还是这个定论：“台独”包藏祸心、“台独”不得人心。赖清德上台以来，在“台独”邪路上狂飙，除了让套在自己脖子上的绳索越勒越紧，除了把台湾民众推向兵凶战危，还有什么其他“成果”？越来越多的台湾民众已经看清，在整个中华民族的人心向背中，在如今国际形势下，赖清德不断图谋的外部势力“协防”“保护”只是幻想，任何形式的“台独”都是死路。赖清德所作所为，只会在客观上加速统一的历史进程.
The great trend of unification is unstoppable; those who commit many evils must be severely punished. If Lai Ching-te is determined to be a traitor to the nation and a sinner of history, then let him fall into the abyss and be smashed to pieces! 统一大势，势不可挡；作恶多端，必得严惩。赖清德如果铁了心要当民族的败类、历史的罪人，那就任由他堕入深渊，摔个粉身碎骨吧!
Page 12: There’s an article by Zhu Weidong, who is the head of the Institute of Taiwan Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Zhu discusses the content of Lai’s four lectures so far. His arguments are that:
First, the content is a “patchwork fabrication and wild invention of ‘Taiwan independence’ fallacies. These are nothing more than deliberate ‘brainwashing to destabilize Taiwan’, intended to confuse the hearts and minds of island people.” “Tainan KMT ‘legislator’ Hsieh Lung-chieh, known across the media in the island as the person who understands Lai best and who vowed to ‘monitor Lai Ching-te for life’, sarcastically criticised this with penetrating insight, saying that the content Lai spoke was all a hodgepodge of what southern ‘independence faction’ underground radio stations have been saying for decades. Many of those claims have long since been debunked and refuted, and even many of the ‘old pro-independence’ types have stopped saying them. Yet Lai has taken them up and is now preaching them. Lai Ching-te just finally found an opportunity to talk about his own ‘Taiwan independence’ propositions. As is well known, underground radio stations, long despised by island people, are notoriously infamous for deceiving and fooling grassroots people and spreading ‘Taiwan independence’ fallacies. Lai’s speech turned out to be identical to underground radio stations, showing the extent of its despicable absurdity.” 首先，就其生拼硬凑、胡编乱造的“台独”歪理而言，不过是刻意惑乱岛内民心的“乱台洗脑”。被岛内舆论称为最了解赖、誓言“一生监督赖清德”的国民党籍台南“立委”谢龙介对此一针见血地讽刺道，赖清德讲的内容，都是南部“独派”地下电台讲了几十年的大杂烩，许多说法早就被打脸被戳破，许多“老独派”都不讲了，却被赖拿来宣讲。赖清德只是终于找到机会能谈论自己的“台独”主张而已。众所周知，早为岛内民众鄙视的地下电台，在欺骗愚弄基层民众、散播“台独”谬论方面可谓恶名昭彰，赖的讲话竟与地下电台如出一辙，其卑劣荒谬程度可见一斑。
Second, as for his repeated calls for ‘unity’, what lies behind it is merely Lai’s personal desire for ‘struggle to split Taiwan’. If there is any so-called meaning of ‘unity’, it is nothing more than rousing ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces to ‘unite’ in order to eliminate ‘impurities’ among the opposition, remove KMT legislators, and pave the way for ‘one-party dictatorship’ by taking over the Legislative Yuan. Thus, KMT chairman Eric Chu ridiculed the ‘Four Lectures on Unity’ as the ‘four lectures on chaos in Taiwan’ and the ‘four lectures of rumour-mongering’, while Taiwan People’s Party chairman Huang Kuo-chang also criticised them as essentially the ‘four lectures on struggle’.” 其次，就其口口声声的“团结”口号来说，背后潜藏的只是赖个人“裂台斗争”的私欲。如果说有任何“团结”的意涵，其根本用意不过是鼓动“台独”分裂分子“团结”起来打掉“在野杂质”，罢掉蓝营“立委”，为其控制“立法院”“一党独裁”造势。也因此，国民党主席朱立伦讥讽“团结四讲”为“乱台四讲”“造谣四讲”，台湾民众党主席黄国昌也批其实为“斗争四讲”.
“Furthermore, regarding Lai Ching-te’s deliberate strengthening of the ‘new two-state theory’, shaping an atmosphere of ‘seeking independence through force’ and ‘seeking independence by relying on foreign forces’, and to incite cross-Strait confrontation, will inevitably lead to the sinister result of ‘seeking independence to provoke war’, bringing about ‘disaster and destruction for Taiwan’, and inflicting grave harm to the well-being of people on the island and to Taiwan’s stability. In a word, the final result of Lai Ching-te's four lectures is ‘chaos in Taiwan, splitting Taiwan, destroying Taiwan’! Therefore, much public opinion has directly pointed out that the ‘four lectures on unity’ are even more harmful and destructive, directly stating that ‘Lai Ching-te is the impurity that should be eliminated’, and that ‘Lai Ching-te has already become the greatest threat to Taiwan and the biggest source of turmoil in the Taiwan Strait’.” 再者，就赖清德处心积虑强化“新两国论”、塑造“以武谋独”“倚外谋独”氛围，煽动两岸对抗来说，其结局就是用心险恶的“以独引战”，酿成“毁台灾祸”，对岛内民众福祉和台湾安定危害深重。一言以蔽之，赖清德“团结四讲”的最终结果就是“乱台裂台毁台”！也因此，不少舆论就直截了当挑明，“团结四讲”更具危害性和破坏性，直指“赖清德才是应被打掉的‘杂质’”“赖清德已成为台湾最大威胁和破坏台海和平的最大乱源”.
“Although the outside world has already seen through that Lai's ‘four lectures’ are essentially a ‘desperate political show’ that uses the name of so-called ‘unity’ to actually ‘disintegrate Taiwan’ and ‘split the two sides across the Strait’, given Lai’s current position of power and his personality traits of paranoid arrogance and reckless adventurism (偏执自负、冒险蛮干), we must seriously consider the dangers and harm brought by the ‘Taiwan independence’ delusions and strategic misjudgments hidden behind the ‘four lectures’, and must maintain high vigilance and guard against Lai Ching-te’s ‘radical Taiwan independence’ rash provocations. His speeches clearly shows that Lai’s ‘Taiwan independence’ nature is deeply ingrained and incorrigible, that his separatist actions have no bottom line, and that the ‘Lai-style Taiwan independence’ juggernaut is now recklessly accelerating. If things go on like this, it will lead Taiwan to a perilous and irretrievable abyss.” 尽管外界已识破赖“四讲”本质上是以所谓“团结”之名，行“裂解台湾”“分裂两岸”之实的“绝望政治秀”，但以赖目前所处的权位和偏执自负、冒险蛮干的人格特质，必须严肃思考潜藏在“四讲”背后的“台独”妄想和战略误判所带来的危险与危害，必须对赖清德“激进台独”的冒进挑衅保持高度警惕与戒备。其讲话清晰表明，赖的“台独”本性冥顽不化，“台独”分裂行径毫无底线，“赖氏台独”战车正在疯狂加速，照此下去将让台湾驶向万劫不复的危险境地.
Lai Ching-te makes mistakes every time he speaks, reveals more flaws the more he speaks; his intentions are clearly exposed, and he has become a laughingstock mocked by public opinion. After the ‘four lectures’, there is already widespread anger and resentment, arousing strong disgust from the general public, with anti-Lai, anti-Green, and anti-recall public opinion rising significantly. But power-obsessed Lai Ching-te will not give up his ‘Taiwan independence’ delusions, will not stop suppressing opposition parties, will not cease provoking the mainland, and will wait for the storm to pass before continuing to engage in internal struggle to disrupt and destroy Taiwan, and externally continue provocations to incite war. This will only plunge Taiwan deeper into military tension and danger. 赖清德每讲必错，愈讲愈露馅，用心昭然若揭，已成为舆论群嘲的笑柄。“四讲”下来已天怒人怨，激起社会大众的强烈反感，反赖、反绿、反罢民意显著上升。但权欲熏心的赖清德不会放弃“台独”妄想，不会收手打压在野党，不会停止挑衅大陆，还是会等风头过后，对内继续搞斗争乱台毁台，对外还是挑衅引战。这只会让台湾更加兵凶战危.
The current Taiwan Strait situation is increasingly complex and grim, and the risk of ‘Taiwan independence provoking war’ is increasing. The people of Taiwan eagerly long for peace, and the cross-Strait dynamic is rapidly evolving. ‘Taiwan independence’ means war, and ‘Taiwan independence’ provocations will inevitably bring about self-destruction. 当前台海形势日益复杂严峻，“台独引战”风险增大，台湾民众热切期盼和平，两岸变局加速演进。“台独”意味着战争，“台独”挑衅终将自取灭亡.