:00:00. > :00:00.new rules, the money could be reclaimed up to six years after it
:00:00. > :00:00.had been paid. Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from
:00:00. > :00:25.Singapore. Lessons from MH17. How aviation
:00:26. > :00:34.chiefs are improving safety for flights over conflict zones. We go
:00:35. > :00:44.to Taipei to see a key part of the economy, family business. Welcome to
:00:45. > :00:52.Asia Business. Top aviation industry bosses have wrapped up a key meeting
:00:53. > :00:57.in Montreal, about reducing risk of flights over conflict zones. It
:00:58. > :01:12.comes after the downing of Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine. Let me
:01:13. > :01:17.start with some background. They wanted to see new international laws
:01:18. > :01:22.relating to those who make and deploy anti`aircraft missiles. There
:01:23. > :01:26.was a lot of talk about the information that comes from
:01:27. > :01:30.individual countries about how safe it is to fly over their airspace. If
:01:31. > :01:37.you think about Ukraine, the government there had set their
:01:38. > :01:47.airspace was saved. `` said their airspace was safe. I asked the head
:01:48. > :01:53.of an industry body if they can do more when it comes to reporting on
:01:54. > :02:04.their airspace. What do we have to compare? We depend on the free will
:02:05. > :02:10.of the states having information and implementing provisions. At the end
:02:11. > :02:18.of the meeting, should passengers feel safer? Here is the head of the
:02:19. > :02:24.industry's main trade body. This is an exceptional case. It is the first
:02:25. > :02:33.time that a peaceful civil aircraft has been shot down by the missile
:02:34. > :02:38.like this. We have to keep this into perspective. This is extremely row.
:02:39. > :02:46.I was told that if prices did go up, they would be negligible. The
:02:47. > :02:50.message coming out of here is that the system is still working there
:02:51. > :02:55.are gaps that those here I tried to close.
:02:56. > :03:03.From what you have heard, there is no denying that the ad business is
:03:04. > :03:09.tough to be in. As well as the recent tragedy, all players are
:03:10. > :03:14.being affected by competition. We will hear more about Singapore
:03:15. > :03:23.airlines and what is at the heart of their problems. What is happening if
:03:24. > :03:34.they don't make enough money. Singapore Airlines generates 14
:03:35. > :03:38.billion worth of profit, it doesn't have great margin of safety on what
:03:39. > :03:43.it is able to generate. When you add on extra things, like new flight
:03:44. > :03:50.paths, extra insurance and extra costs, that is going to damage the
:03:51. > :03:53.company completely. You talk about the flight paths over conflict
:03:54. > :04:00.zones. We have looked at that closely. That emerged after MH17.
:04:01. > :04:10.Singapore Airlines was flying over large parts of eastern Ukraine more
:04:11. > :04:13.frequently than Malaysian Airlines. Are all airlines don't have to think
:04:14. > :04:19.about this? It's going to cost them more now. The cost is one part. They
:04:20. > :04:26.will have to pass that on to customers. Customers will have to
:04:27. > :04:33.ask what they want, cheaper airlines or safety. Unless they are pushed
:04:34. > :04:37.into using new flight paths, they will think it is safe enough and
:04:38. > :04:42.they will use it. That is the difficulty they have. They have to
:04:43. > :04:47.balance the cost. Flying a new route is going to cost them more fuel and
:04:48. > :04:54.more money. Are they going to be able to pass that cost on? Being for
:04:55. > :05:00.the free market, I would say the passengers will decide. In the
:05:01. > :05:05.future, passengers will say whether they are comfortable with it or not.
:05:06. > :05:10.Microsoft is under scrutiny in China.
:05:11. > :05:20.Chinese authorities raided Microsoft offices. They say that Microsoft
:05:21. > :05:24.breached competition rules with their new system. They must have
:05:25. > :05:31.changed for Microsoft in China since 2006. That was when the then Chinese
:05:32. > :05:35.President flew to the United States to have dinner with the then
:05:36. > :05:41.chairman Gates, before travelling to the White House. Since then, the
:05:42. > :05:49.company has been struggling in China. It has been struggling to
:05:50. > :05:52.battle with piracy. Its prospects of selling legal software in China
:05:53. > :05:58.looked best when it was negotiating with the government. The
:05:59. > :06:01.announcement of an investigation into the company seems to have
:06:02. > :06:04.dimmed that prospect. The government has readied band of the purchase of
:06:05. > :06:12.Windows eight software by government buyers. Things are not looking good
:06:13. > :06:16.for the company. Could Microsoft be lumped in with a lot of other
:06:17. > :06:22.foreign corporations right now? We have seen Chinese authorities going
:06:23. > :06:24.after foreign companies. We have seen Chinese regulators and the
:06:25. > :06:30.Chinese state`run media really turning up the heat on foreign
:06:31. > :06:32.corporations. We have seen pharmaceutical companies fast food
:06:33. > :06:37.companies and now technology companies, they are all really being
:06:38. > :06:41.scrutinised very carefully by the Chinese government. The Chinese
:06:42. > :06:45.government says it is doing best to protect the interests of local
:06:46. > :06:50.consumers and in an effort to bring prices down, it is also trying to
:06:51. > :06:55.protect local companies. It is something that happened all over the
:06:56. > :06:59.world. At some point, the Chinese government will have to take you
:07:00. > :07:07.step back in its efforts to make things a little more palatable for
:07:08. > :07:16.foreign companies working in China. Twitter had losses of 125 million
:07:17. > :07:24.losses in the quarter to June. Investors were still buoyed by the
:07:25. > :07:35.fact that Twitter has 270 million users. To Taiwan, where three
:07:36. > :07:40.sisters have taken over a family farm and changed into a popular
:07:41. > :07:44.weekend it away. There has been a transition from one set of leaders
:07:45. > :07:58.to the next, but not everyone in Taiwan finds it easy. Preparing a
:07:59. > :08:05.dish of shrimp, this mother and daughter duo make a bid team. At the
:08:06. > :08:11.back, the father is roosting the family's trademark chicken. The
:08:12. > :08:16.youngest daughter is in charge of the front desk and seeing guests to
:08:17. > :08:22.their rooms. The eldest daughter is the head of marketing and conjures
:08:23. > :08:27.up creative beverages in the cafe. TRANSLATION: It just happened. We
:08:28. > :08:35.put the youngest at the front desk at two years old. At 22, she is in
:08:36. > :08:38.charge of it. We are happy the young people have taken over managing the
:08:39. > :08:43.farm. They have better ideas on how to run the business than we do.
:08:44. > :08:48.Family businesses make up the bulk of Taiwan's economy. While this
:08:49. > :08:52.family has succeeded in having done the business to the younger
:08:53. > :08:56.generation, many companies in Taiwan, including some of the
:08:57. > :09:01.biggest firms, do not have a succession plan. They are run by the
:09:02. > :09:09.founders, who are getting on in age, but do not have any successors lined
:09:10. > :09:12.up. 70% of Taiwan's against companies are family owned. Only 30%
:09:13. > :09:17.have a succession plan. The companies are either too big to be
:09:18. > :09:21.passed down to family members or the offspring are not capable or
:09:22. > :09:27.interested in running them. Experts say the succession challenges for
:09:28. > :09:30.many Taiwanese companies put a question mark over their future,
:09:31. > :09:37.especially in the mind of shareholders. The first generation
:09:38. > :09:40.entrepreneurs do not want to give up their position. They still want to
:09:41. > :09:49.make major decisions for the company. The successful is to not
:09:50. > :10:05.successors do not have a chance. Elderly business owners are not
:10:06. > :10:11.willing to let go. This is making businesses struggle. The country may
:10:12. > :10:19.be slow to change and risk future competitiveness. That is not the
:10:20. > :10:26.case for this family. It rests very firmly on the next generation.
:10:27. > :10:36.A quick look at the markets. They are fairly subdued. The Nikkei is
:10:37. > :10:50.up. We sought the numbers out from Japan, with the biggest loss since
:10:51. > :10:52.the earthquake in 2011. `` saw. The top stories this hour: Israel's
:10:53. > :10:55.bombardment of Gaza is continuing. The military commander of Hamas has
:10:56. > :10:59.said there'll be no truce unless what he called the siege of Gaza is
:11:00. > :11:02.lifted. The United States and the European Union have announced broad
:11:03. > :11:04.economic sanctions on Russia over its support for rebels in