:00:00. > :00:17.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:18. > :00:22.A top Chinese official arrives in Taipei, in another sign of warming
:00:23. > :00:26.ties between the two sides. And, Indonesia is looking to curb smoking
:00:27. > :00:41.through a new and graphic warning on cigarette packets. Welcome to Asia
:00:42. > :00:45.Business Report. China's top official for relations with Taiwan
:00:46. > :00:49.met in Taipei today for a series of meetings. They do not expect to get
:00:50. > :00:53.major agreement on the trip but will meet with ordinary people to get a
:00:54. > :00:59.better understanding about how they feel about the China and Taiwan
:01:00. > :01:03.relationship. With all of this, will the soft approach help counter
:01:04. > :01:12.political resistance to China? It depends, he comes on the heels of
:01:13. > :01:17.major protests in Taiwan, from students who occupied Parliament.
:01:18. > :01:21.There was that controversial trade deal that Taiwan signed with China.
:01:22. > :01:26.On the looks of it, the trade agreement looks like it will
:01:27. > :01:30.benefit. It allows greater access to China's services sector. In many
:01:31. > :01:37.ways, Taiwan is public are suspicious of China's intentions. He
:01:38. > :01:42.is facing more suspicion then years ago, when the two sides began
:01:43. > :01:46.warming relations. The tactic this time is not to meet many politicians
:01:47. > :01:51.or focus on signing agreements, but talk to ordinary people, including
:01:52. > :01:55.farmers, villagers, and students and professors. And even visited daycare
:01:56. > :01:59.and community centre. That is to get a sense of how the Taiwanese people
:02:00. > :02:03.feel about the relationship with China and how to move forward. As
:02:04. > :02:11.you say, he is meeting with ordinary people this time around, will that
:02:12. > :02:13.help get rid of these suspicious feeling is meeting with ordinary
:02:14. > :02:15.people this time around, will that help get rid of these suspicious
:02:16. > :02:19.feelings that many Taiwanese people have towards the Chinese? It
:02:20. > :02:25.depends, `` feelings. He is meeting with parents and children, creating
:02:26. > :02:31.an image of a softer side of China, something that Beijing is trying to
:02:32. > :02:34.create an impression of. It is not only unification, unifying with the
:02:35. > :02:38.islander considers its problems. But to find out what the Taiwanese
:02:39. > :02:44.people think and learn about Taiwan is democracy. It could help people
:02:45. > :02:51.have a sense of what Beijing wants `` Taiwan's. What is the reaction so
:02:52. > :02:56.far to this trip? What other newspapers are saying? It is all
:02:57. > :03:01.over the newspapers. This is the front page of the China Times, the
:03:02. > :03:05.headline says that he will get a true sense of how the Taiwanese
:03:06. > :03:10.people feel. A positive response. On the other hand, another newspaper,
:03:11. > :03:15.known to be more anti` China, they ran an interview with Hillary
:03:16. > :03:20.Clinton, warning that if Taiwan becomes too economically independent
:03:21. > :03:24.on China `` dependent on China, it could diminish political
:03:25. > :03:28.independence. It also warns of China bringing restrictions on reporters
:03:29. > :03:31.to Taiwan. It points out the many reporters covering the visit will
:03:32. > :03:38.have to have a variety of press passes to get access to the various
:03:39. > :03:42.venues. In other business News, China is reported to be setting up a
:03:43. > :03:46.global financial institution to rival the World Bank and the Asian
:03:47. > :03:50.development bank, according to the Financial Times, China believes both
:03:51. > :03:54.lenders are too influenced by the USA and allies. Beijing is set to
:03:55. > :03:57.raise $100 billion for its own lender which will be known as the
:03:58. > :04:04.Asian infrastructure investment bank. The Japanese Prime Minister
:04:05. > :04:08.Shinzo Abe has unveiled an ambitious package of reforms aimed at
:04:09. > :04:12.revitalising the economy. That is part of his third arrow of
:04:13. > :04:15.structural changes. Proposals include cutting corporate tax in
:04:16. > :04:21.Japan, putting more women into the workforce, and restyling the country
:04:22. > :04:25.is mothballed nuclear reactors. It isn't often that investors paid
:04:26. > :04:29.attention to revisions of economic statistics, but when it comes to the
:04:30. > :04:33.United States, the world 's largest economy, everybody sits up and takes
:04:34. > :04:37.notice. Much of Asia is dependent on trade with the USA, and on
:04:38. > :04:43.Wednesday, there will be plenty of people waiting to receive the third
:04:44. > :04:51.and final reading of those third`quarter growth numbers. ``
:04:52. > :04:54.those quarterly growth numbers. This man designs and manufactures
:04:55. > :04:58.children's furniture. In this Brooklyn company, the start of the
:04:59. > :05:06.year was bleak, orders didn't return after the usual drop after the
:05:07. > :05:13.holidays. Usually, sales pickup in mid`January, but this year, it took
:05:14. > :05:18.until April. The US economy shrank in the first three months of the
:05:19. > :05:25.year, hurting businesses like this. It rose fears that the US recovery
:05:26. > :05:32.was fading. Some say it is misleading to say that America is
:05:33. > :05:36.close to recession. It was a surprising slowdown, but it reflects
:05:37. > :05:44.that in the second half of last year, we saw a pickup in growth,
:05:45. > :05:48.inevitably, it meant that he had some slowdown at the start of the
:05:49. > :05:52.year. Even if the optimists are right, and America is bouncing back,
:05:53. > :05:57.economists from the IMF to Wall Street had been forced to lower
:05:58. > :06:01.their growth forecast for the year. For many Americans, the report will
:06:02. > :06:05.feel like it has taken one step forward and two steps back. But,
:06:06. > :06:10.there are signs that the world 's largest economy is making progress.
:06:11. > :06:14.Not least because of the improvement in the US labour market. Still, it's
:06:15. > :06:20.a reminder that the path to recovery does not always follow a straight
:06:21. > :06:24.line. Staying with the Americas, Mexico is
:06:25. > :06:29.not a country you tend to hear about in this part of the world, but Latin
:06:30. > :06:36.America's second`largest economy is now Asian investors to help finance
:06:37. > :06:42.major projects. Earlier, I spoke to the chief executive of Mexico's
:06:43. > :06:47.biggest infrastructure bank, and I asked if there had been a lot of
:06:48. > :06:52.interest. In the last three years, we have been coming to China, South
:06:53. > :06:56.Korea, and also Japan, and this is the first time that we came to
:06:57. > :07:02.Singapore, because we are about to sign an important memorandum of
:07:03. > :07:07.understanding with a reliable company in Singapore. We know that
:07:08. > :07:12.there has been a lot of concern about the Mexican economy in recent
:07:13. > :07:16.years. We saw their currency dropping and investors pulling money
:07:17. > :07:22.out. How tough is it to convince Asian investors to go and invest? It
:07:23. > :07:25.depends on the planning horizon of investors. If you look at the
:07:26. > :07:32.performance of the Mexican economy in the short term, and the potential
:07:33. > :07:40.performance of the Mexican economy, we remain optimistic. We returned
:07:41. > :07:47.business opportunities happening in the infrastructure field. That
:07:48. > :07:52.infrastructure plan, they planned to invest $380 billion, in energy,
:07:53. > :08:00.water, security, and in other applications, that have also come
:08:01. > :08:04.into this part of the world. In Asia, you have frontier markets,
:08:05. > :08:09.like Burma, Indochina, why should Asian investors go so far out of
:08:10. > :08:15.their way to Mexico? It is all about risk and return, that profile. The
:08:16. > :08:18.risk of investing in Mexico is low, and the return is significantly
:08:19. > :08:29.higher than some other alternatives in the world. If you invest, you
:08:30. > :08:37.take on the risk of a PPP project in sovereign nature. But, you have a
:08:38. > :08:43.higher return on average. Any regulation aimed at stamping out
:08:44. > :08:46.smoking comes to effect in Indonesia this week. Graphic health warnings
:08:47. > :08:50.have been put on cigarette packets, but it appears the new laws have yet
:08:51. > :08:56.to have an affect on demand the cigarettes. Our reporter found out
:08:57. > :09:00.when we spoke to people on the streets of Jakarta. If you are a
:09:01. > :09:05.smoker in Indonesia, you can light up just about anywhere.
:09:06. > :09:11.You can smoke on the streets, in parks, and in public places. Even in
:09:12. > :09:16.some government offices. In Indonesia, more than half the male
:09:17. > :09:18.population smoke every day. In Indonesian government has tried a
:09:19. > :09:24.lot to diffuse the number of smokers, but they haven't been
:09:25. > :09:27.successful `` to reduce. This week, Indonesian cigarette makers had to
:09:28. > :09:34.start warning smokers of how unhealthy the habit is. `` have.
:09:35. > :09:38.Cigarette packets need to have graphic warnings that cover at least
:09:39. > :09:43.40% of the package. There was little evidence of those images at stores
:09:44. > :09:49.in Jakarta today. The smokers here had no idea about the new rules.
:09:50. > :09:53.TRANSLATION: I don't make it will make a difference, so long as people
:09:54. > :09:57.continue to sell single sticks of cigarettes, a majority of Indonesian
:09:58. > :10:05.smokers are from poor backgrounds and they tend to buy the sticks,
:10:06. > :10:08.rather than packs. I know a bit about the rule, but I don't think it
:10:09. > :10:12.will have an impact, I am addicted. I would rather go hungry do not
:10:13. > :10:16.smoke, if I don't smoke, I cannot think, so it will not make a
:10:17. > :10:21.difference to me. Cigarettes are very cheap in Indonesia, because
:10:22. > :10:26.tobacco taxes are so low, compared to other countries in South East
:10:27. > :10:30.Asia. Activists say that Indonesia has to raise taxes on cigarettes,
:10:31. > :10:37.but that is challenging, because the tobacco lobby is one of the most
:10:38. > :10:41.powerful in the country. That is it that this edition of Asia
:10:42. > :10:43.Business Report, you can follow us on Twitter. Sport Today is coming up
:10:44. > :10:57.next. The top stories this hour.
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