Rumbles over Taiwan and the South China Sea

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Top story: China’s attempts to stabilize ties with Japan are at risk over Beijing’s growing military presence in disputed territories, Tokyo’s crackdown on advanced chipmaking gear, and a detained Japanese businessman. Those are the main complaints lodged by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi on his two-day trip to Beijing, the first visit to China by an official in his position since December 2019. Click through for the whole thing.

Guatemala reaffirmed its “unbreakable” ties with Taiwan in a meeting between their heads of state on Friday, just a few days after fellow Central American country Honduras switched official diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文 (Cài Yīngwén) in Los Angeles on Wednesday. In response to a question about the meeting at the Foreign Ministry briefing in Beijing today, spokesperson Máo Níng 毛宁 promised that “China will take resolute measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will visit China alongside French President Emmanuel Macron this week, after her comments that the country was getting “more repressive at home and more assertive abroad” drew backlash from Beijing.

China is pushing ASEAN for a code of conduct in the disputed South China Sea and for an upgrade in the bloc’s free-trade agreements. The calls came as Chinese Premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 inked a slew of trade commitments with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing.

Meanwhile, China is deepening its ties with Singapore to set a “benchmark” for other countries in the region. The two nations agreed in a joint statement to upgrade bilateral relations amid growing tensions with the West.

Pinduoduo is bypassing “users’ cell phone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages, and change settings,” according to CNN. While the activity seems to be restricted to the Android version of the app, which is only available in China, the report will increase scrutiny on Temu, which is owned by PDD Holdings and launched last year in the U.S. and other overseas markets. Meanwhile, a Pew Research survey found that Americans support U.S. government banning TikTok by more than two-to-one.

Booming electric vehicle sales and live entertainment: China EV sales in March were about 560,000 units, a month-on-month increase of 27.5% and a year-on-year increase of 25.8%. As usual, BYD led the pack with 207,080 units, a year-on-year increase of 97.4%. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of the year, the China Association of Performing Arts put on 68,900 performances, an increase of 95.42% year-on-year, and made box office revenue of 4.98 billion yuan ($724.91 million), an increase of 110.99% (links all to Chinese sources).