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Guard has now called off a rescue operation. Those are our main | :00:00. | :00:07. | |
headlines. Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from | :00:08. | :00:15. | |
Singapore. China evacuate thousands of its citizens from Vietnam, as | :00:16. | :00:18. | |
rising territorial tensions sparked protest. And Thailand's economy is | :00:19. | :00:28. | |
being hurt by the political instability, with some warning it | :00:29. | :00:37. | |
may fall into recession. Hello and welcome to Asia Business Report. We | :00:38. | :00:44. | |
start with Vietnam this morning, where a wave of anti`Chinese | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
protests are straining ties. China is sending five ships to pull out | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
more than 3000 of its citizens, after rising tensions over the South | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
China Sea sparked violent demonstrations. Two Chinese | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
nationals were killed and more than 100 injured, after Vietnamese mobs | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
looted and torched businesses. We have been speaking to our | :01:07. | :01:14. | |
correspondent. Tensions have calmed down. It is a precautionary measure | :01:15. | :01:25. | |
now. So I have talked to many locals in the city and generally, people | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
are going about their business as usual. There are just some sporadic | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
cases where there is possible discrimination. We know that the | :01:35. | :01:39. | |
government of Vietnam have been urging protesters to calm down, but | :01:40. | :01:42. | |
what are they doing in terms of reaching out and talking to their | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
Chinese counterparts, and how much could something like this impact | :01:46. | :01:51. | |
business relations in the long`term? Vietnam has to maintain a careful | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
balance. So it is certainly reaching out to China and reassuring them | :01:58. | :02:00. | |
that they are keeping things under control here, but at the same time | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
on the day are also demanding that China removes its oil rig from the | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
South China Sea, and in terms of business, it is important for | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
Vietnam to reassure China that it is OK to reinvest here, and they are | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
considering tax`free loans for the businesses that have been damaged. | :02:14. | :02:31. | |
Because China, is, as you said its biggest trading partner `` trading | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
partner. They are trading partners in the multibillion`dollar range. | :02:37. | :02:46. | |
Good political unrest in Thailand see its economy shrank for the first | :02:47. | :02:49. | |
time in a year? That is what people are watching for, as growth numbers | :02:50. | :02:55. | |
are set to show how big of an impact the ongoing crisis is having on | :02:56. | :02:58. | |
business and investment. Forecasters expect the GDP to shrink by 1.6%. | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
Compared with the previous three months, and on an annual basis this | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
could be the weakest growth since the devastating floods of 2011. I | :03:10. | :03:12. | |
was speaking to an expert about this, asking whether investors | :03:13. | :03:14. | |
should worry about Thailand's history of unrest. Over the last 72 | :03:15. | :03:31. | |
years, we have had 11 military coups in the last few years, with the last | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
one being in 2006. So we are long overdue for one now, and that is one | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
way of looking at it. The military, the army, has already said that if | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
there is no stability in the country, the military will step in | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
and take over. Ultimately what you need to remember is that in order | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
for a country to function properly, you must have stability, and that | :03:59. | :04:00. | |
has not been provided by the government. Having a caretaker | :04:01. | :04:03. | |
government is not going to get it done. What they need to do is put | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
the army into place to provide political stability, if it does not | :04:09. | :04:11. | |
come from within, and then people will be able to spend money, | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
companies will be able to invest, and they will start getting the | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
country going again. So you are saying that a military coup could | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
help the country get going again? It has to. If people cannot go to work | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
because they are too worried about what is happening in the streets, | :04:26. | :04:27. | |
then companies won't invest, and political stability will not be | :04:28. | :04:38. | |
provided. And who is going to provide it? In most developing | :04:39. | :04:41. | |
economies, that stability is provided by the people themselves, | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
but with this conflict going on between the two sides, it is | :04:45. | :04:47. | |
insurmountable, and so the Army may have to come in and rewrite the | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
rules, and put in an interim government and have elections again. | :04:51. | :04:59. | |
And then Thailand will be able to grow for the next few years. In | :05:00. | :05:09. | |
other news, making headlines, Japan's machinery orders, a key | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
indicator of business spending, surged to the highest in a decade. | :05:16. | :05:22. | |
They rose by a record 19.1% on the month. That is significantly higher | :05:23. | :05:32. | |
than was forecast for a 6% gain. This is due to businesses spending | :05:33. | :05:40. | |
ahead of an increased sales tax which began on one April. Pfizer has | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
engaged in its final attempt at talks to merge with AstraZeneca, and | :05:45. | :05:46. | |
are prepared to offer several billion dollars after their initial | :05:47. | :05:55. | |
bid was rejected as not high enough. If it goes through, it would be the | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
healthcare industry's biggest ever acquisition. AT is spending a lot | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
of money to increase its presence in the global television market. | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
However, some analysts warn that they may face resistance from | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
investors. Swiss voters have rejected a plan for the world's | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
highest minimum wage. Trade unions had opposed an hourly wage of 25 US | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
dollars or $4500 per month. However, polls or nearly 80% of Swiss voters | :06:28. | :06:36. | |
turning it down, spurring a sigh of relief amongst businesses who said | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
they couldn't afford it. Negotiators for the US led trade pact, | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
transpacific partnership, are meeting here in Singapore, after 20 | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
rounds of talks so far. If passed, it will cover 40% of world trade. | :06:52. | :06:54. | |
While progress is being made, the final agreement is still a way off. | :06:55. | :06:57. | |
What will it take for this trade deal to be completed? It is my view | :06:58. | :07:06. | |
that politics are beginning to complicate what had been some good | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
progress. As you know, in the United States, the President was not given | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
the fast track authority to push this through. And the vulnerability | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
of the engagement is significant. The politics in America are | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
approaching midterm elections in November, which means that the | :07:24. | :07:25. | |
president is going to be very sensitive to what it might mean to | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
the voting public. By the same token, the Japanese Prime Minister | :07:32. | :07:33. | |
needs significant political support to press forward with his programme, | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
and to try to support that programme, he may not want to take | :07:37. | :07:39. | |
on the constituencies in agriculture and manufacturing. And those are the | :07:40. | :07:50. | |
things I think which have prolonged the talks to this point. India goes | :07:51. | :08:01. | |
back to work today, knowing it is the beginning of a new era. Results | :08:02. | :08:06. | |
in the general election show that the BJP will form the next | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
government with a healthy majority. The Prime Minister elect, Narendra | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
Modi, has a strong mandate to revitalise the economy. Our | :08:15. | :08:22. | |
correspondent in Mumbai looks at what that means for India. The | :08:23. | :08:26. | |
marathon election is over, the results are out, and it is official. | :08:27. | :08:35. | |
This man is set to become the next Prime Minister. Improving the | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
economy was one of his main pledges during the election campaign. Not | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
surprising considering that it is growing at its slowest pace in the | :08:42. | :08:47. | |
last decade. So what are the key challenges which Narendra Modi faces | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
on the economic front? More than half of India's population is under | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
the age of 25. In fact, India needs to create more than 10 million jobs | :08:57. | :09:02. | |
every year to employ it young workforce. One way of doing that is | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
by giving a big push to small and medium`sized businesses along with | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
large scale manufacturing. This can help in in creating millions of | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
jobs. One of the biggest hurdles to the economy has been infrastructure. | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
India needs more roads, power plants, and airports. Some of these | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
have been partially completed but were stalled due to political | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
wrangling and policy issues. So if the new government can cut through | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
that read tape and get these off the ground, and at the same time create | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
some new infrastructure projects, that will give a big boost to the | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
economy. High food prices have been a big concern for India, along with | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
inflation. That is one key reason why many people voted against the | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
last government. Dealing with inflation is a contract issue. The | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
weather lays a big part in it. Experts say that India can improve | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
prices by improving its storage facilities. That will save a lot of | :10:08. | :10:14. | |
food that rocks during the off`season, and in turn pushes up | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
food prices. `` the weather plays a big part in it. There are many | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
multinationals here. Over the last few years, many have pulled out all | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
stayed away. They feel India does not want them. Many have clashed | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
with the government or tax `` overtaxed or policy issues. It is | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
considered a tough place to do business, so the new government will | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
have to focus on improving the business environment, which will | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
help in improving the business cycle. Looking at our top story | :10:48. | :10:48. | |
again, | :10:49. | :10:50. |