:00:00. > :00:00.several hours of those travelling to France. Time for Asia Business
:00:00. > :00:21.Report. The head of China Resources, one of
:00:22. > :00:23.the mainland's largest companies, is under investigation for corruption.
:00:24. > :00:32.Cambodia's trade unions call for thousands of garment workers to go
:00:33. > :00:47.on strike for higher wages. Hello and welcome. I'm Rico Hizon. We
:00:48. > :00:50.start with China. The government's crackdown on corruption might have
:00:51. > :00:57.been snared one of the heads of China's largest companies. The
:00:58. > :01:02.chairman of China Resources is under investigation. I spoke to our Hong
:01:03. > :01:06.Kong correspondent earlier this this is the second time he is fighting
:01:07. > :01:12.corruption allegations. This is one of the world's largest
:01:13. > :01:16.companies. Founded here in Hong Kong. Enormous diversity in its
:01:17. > :01:21.business interests, from property to energy to retail. Also,
:01:22. > :01:36.pharmaceuticals. You're right, the company has made headlines before.
:01:37. > :01:39.We reported on this programme, in August, when a group of minority
:01:40. > :01:50.shareholders in China Resources Power, one of the listed companies
:01:51. > :01:53.initiated a court case. It accused a number of executives of misconduct
:01:54. > :02:00.and of grossly overpaying for a mining deal back in 2010. Investors
:02:01. > :02:03.said the assets they purchased were not worth so much money. They said
:02:04. > :02:06.the taxpayer money was wasted in the transaction. The case is still
:02:07. > :02:16.working its way through Hong Kong's court system. That case came to
:02:17. > :02:19.light after two different journalists in China blew the
:02:20. > :02:28.whistle on the company, accusing it of corruption.
:02:29. > :02:37.What do we know about Song Lin? Is this a sign that no`one is immune?
:02:38. > :02:48.That's right. It doesn't get bigger than this. Mr Lin is aged 51 and has
:02:49. > :02:55.spent his entire career with China Resources. He holds a range that is
:02:56. > :02:59.equivalent to vice minister. According to the South China Morning
:03:00. > :03:02.Post, he has denied all wrong doing. This case is being seen, certainly,
:03:03. > :03:16.as an extension of the new administration 's anticorruption
:03:17. > :03:20.crackdown. Trade unions in Cambodia are hoping
:03:21. > :03:22.as many as half of the country 's 600,000 garment workers won't be
:03:23. > :03:26.showing up to work until they receive higher salaries. They also
:03:27. > :03:31.want the release of 21 protesters who were imprisoned in the last
:03:32. > :03:33.round of strikes in January. The picture has become muddled because
:03:34. > :03:37.the organisation representing factory owners claims that many have
:03:38. > :03:48.had extra time off due to the New Year. They will have to come
:03:49. > :03:51.renegotiated because it is the will of the majority. The situation we
:03:52. > :03:56.have predicted is that the majority of workers are willing at happy to
:03:57. > :04:04.come to work. The minority continues to make demands. We will then
:04:05. > :04:08.respect the wishes of the majority. Earlier I spoke to a Phnom pen
:04:09. > :04:16.journalist and asked if the strikes were having any success. Most of the
:04:17. > :04:19.factories right now aren't open. It is difficult to say whether workers
:04:20. > :04:22.are following the strike or whether they are enjoying a few days of
:04:23. > :04:26.holidays. Right now the industrial areas are empty. It is difficult to
:04:27. > :04:34.say how successful the strikes have been. Higher wages, releasing more
:04:35. > :04:40.than 20 protesters, how willing are workers to press their case moving
:04:41. > :04:43.forward? During the last round of strikes in December and January,
:04:44. > :04:48.they were stopped by government forces. Military police shot dead
:04:49. > :04:57.five protesters, who were throwing Molotov cocktails. That has had a
:04:58. > :05:01.chilling effect on workers. They are less likely to come out than they
:05:02. > :05:09.were a few months ago. How strong are the trade unions? And how
:05:10. > :05:14.organised are they in Cambodia? It's a fractured labour movement. Eight
:05:15. > :05:17.unions are leading this strike, but there are hundreds in the country.
:05:18. > :05:25.These eight unions claim to represent half the workforce. But
:05:26. > :05:30.the Garment Manufacturing Association say they represent a
:05:31. > :05:44.small minority. This is supposed to be a litmus test as to how strong
:05:45. > :05:47.the independent labour movement is. China's home prices rose to the
:05:48. > :05:50.slowest pace in March, easing concerns about the possible property
:05:51. > :05:53.bubble on the mainland. According to government data, new home prices in
:05:54. > :05:57.the major cities rose by 7.7% compared to one year ago. Beijing
:05:58. > :06:04.and Shanghai saw among the biggest price increases.
:06:05. > :06:24.China's version of Twitter, INAUDIBLE... As you heard
:06:25. > :06:27.yesterday, the company is being closely watched as a gauge of
:06:28. > :06:35.investor sentiment ahead of the e`commerce giant Alibaba's share
:06:36. > :06:39.offering. Say that Corp gained as much as 7% on the NASDAQ after the
:06:40. > :06:42.travel company raised almost $600 million from its initial public
:06:43. > :06:50.offering. In US earnings, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have posted
:06:51. > :06:52.better than expected earnings. Both saw profits lifted by their
:06:53. > :07:03.investment management, merger and stock divisions. Shares both rose on
:07:04. > :07:08.the news. Stocks of PepsiCo also gaining ground after profit
:07:09. > :07:13.expectations, due to higher sales in their North American soda divisions.
:07:14. > :07:18.The maker of potato chips and fruit juices saw revenues rising by 4%,
:07:19. > :07:22.almost $13 billion, into three months ending in March.
:07:23. > :07:24.With 100 million Facebook users and over 30 million Twitter accounts,
:07:25. > :07:30.this is India's first digital election. Something that political
:07:31. > :07:33.parties have taken note of, with almost all the major players putting
:07:34. > :07:40.a chunk of their campaign budget toward social media spending and
:07:41. > :07:43.other technologies. Are the traditional campaign rallies on the
:07:44. > :07:46.wane? Just over 15% of India's 1.2 billion
:07:47. > :07:54.people are online, but that is a considerable number of voters. Young
:07:55. > :08:01.voters... INAUDIBLE. considerable number of voters. Young
:08:02. > :08:07.who influence their families decisions. With an election as big
:08:08. > :08:10.and diverse as India's election, the margins are very small and many
:08:11. > :08:13.believe this time social media could possibly deliver the winning margin.
:08:14. > :08:16.Getting the message across means setting up operations like this, the
:08:17. > :08:23.digital war room of the opposition party. They are using an army of
:08:24. > :08:26.volunteers, mainly young professionals, who have taken time
:08:27. > :08:29.off from their jobs. They blog, monitor social media and perhaps,
:08:30. > :08:35.most importantly, decide the strategy for what message the party
:08:36. > :08:46.needs to send. In the online space, we believe we have a good campaign.
:08:47. > :08:51.A small example, when Mr Modi speaks on the ground, the same message is
:08:52. > :09:02.amplified on social media. The same rally is web casted live.
:09:03. > :09:10.A smaller campaign is run by the recently formed Armada Party. While
:09:11. > :09:14.spending a lot less money, they have managed to make most of the messages
:09:15. > :09:18.via social media. They have their work cut out for them. Information
:09:19. > :09:22.changes in seconds. When it comes to spreading misinformation, other
:09:23. > :09:37.parties are good. They're good at spreading it. We have to keep our
:09:38. > :09:41.eyes and ears open every second to know what is coming in, what is
:09:42. > :09:44.going out and what is spread by other parties and how to counter
:09:45. > :09:47.that. How effective is this? The BBC decided to find out. Looking at the
:09:48. > :09:50.data for a month, we analysed how various parties performed online.
:09:51. > :09:56.BJP and Narendra Modi were leading with over one million mentions on
:09:57. > :10:03.Twitter. The anticorruption party, AAP, and their leader got over
:10:04. > :10:09.600,000 tweets. The ruling Congress Party and Rahul Ghandi registered
:10:10. > :10:15.just under 500,000 tweets. YouTube channel insures every word
:10:16. > :10:18.continues... It is accepted the reach of social media remains
:10:19. > :10:21.limited and that the views expressed their only reflect a section of
:10:22. > :10:24.largely urban voters. That means no Indian politician is downgrading the
:10:25. > :10:33.value of mass rallies just yet. Increasing the digital presence is
:10:34. > :10:36.something we will see more of. You can get more of that story by
:10:37. > :10:43.watching India Business Report this coming weekend.
:10:44. > :10:51.Be sure to log onto our website. Click on the business section for
:10:52. > :11:05.all the latest news. Thanks for watching.
:11:06. > :11:11.The main news stories: A deal to calm tensions in Ukraine has been
:11:12. > :11:13.reached in Geneva.