24/03/2016 Asia Business Report

Suhaib Majeed was convicted of conspiracy to murder and

Tarik Hassane admitted the same charges.

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore

China's Premier is about to address business leaders as the IMF warns of

a ripple effect from the slowing economy. Clearly the economy is

slowing down, and what impact that will have on China's trading

partners will be significant. The spillover is quite a bit. The Thai

military's government promises to crack down on corruption. But is

everyone marching in lockstep? Welcome to Asia Business Report. The

Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, is about to give a keynote address at a

gathering of top business leaders in China. We can now take you there

live, show you these live pictures from inside the conference centre,

where he is expected to speak in just a few minutes. How

correspondent is at the forum, and she can join us from there now. What

can we expect the Premier to say? In the next couple of minutes we are

expecting Premier Li Keqiang to address this gathering of

high-profile business leaders from across the mainland and across the

region. Bosses from as far away as Australia and India, they have all

gathered here at this annual event. They have come to listen to what he

has to say. It is very likely he will repeat the sort of things we

have heard before. Just a couple of weeks ago at the National People's

Congress, when he talked about the fact that China may be going through

this tricky transition from a manufacturing led economy, that --

to one that is still in good shape, and can still grow anywhere between

the rage of 6.5% to 7% this year. Others are not so optimistic. I

spoke of the deputy director of the IMF, asking how much of an impact

China's slowdown is having on regional economies. Clearly, when

China slows down it will impact the trading partners. If China drops 1%

of GDP for investments, that will have an effect of 0.4% on Malaysia,

Indonesia, even Chile. How do you think China is managing this

transition from a manufacturing economy to one that is now evolving

into high-tech manufacturing and innovation? It is not easy. For

example, cutting the capacity, a few million people will lose their jobs.

China still creates nearly 13 million jobs every year, which is a

huge number, but it is not the same thing. I think putting in a social

safety net to deal with that is part of the initiative. Furthermore, you

are not only cutting capacity, you are moving to the more

high-efficiency supply chains. For that is also a big challenge as

well. As you can see, the conference call is really filling up this

morning. It has been the culmination of the last couple of days where

there have been seminars taking place, not just about China's

economic future and challenges, but also about what the region as a

whole faces, with workshops on global economic governance as well

as the issue of currency was an volatility, which we have seen with

a Chinese yuan. This is very much an opportunity for China to present its

face to the world. It is an annual gathering, which was started by

China to rival the kind of forums we have seen like the world economic

Forum in Davos, and those kinds of events. This year it is taking place

against this backdrop of slower economic growth in China, and the

prospect of massive job losses. It is likely that Premier Li Keqiang

will also address what has been called a crisis of confidence, if

you will. Whether Chinese policymakers are actually able to

handle this transition... They have been seen as masters of the universe

in the past being able to handle this issue, and it is quite

critical. As you can see, the Premier has just entered the

conference hall. We are expecting him to speak any moment now. He is

walking up through the delegates, and is expected to talk in the next

couple of minutes. We are expecting him to address the issue of China's

slowdown, as well as any of the job losses that may take place in the

state-owned enterprises sector. He hasn't quite started yet, so I

will ask a quick question. What have business leaders been telling you

about these ongoing concerns about the world's second largest economy

slowing down? Many people are divided about whether China is

actually going to face a hard landing or not. The real issue has

been whether policymakers are able to manage this transition, and of

course a lot of questions are being raised about whether the actual

growth targets can be achieved, because 6.5% -7%, which is the range

China has set for itself this year, is a pretty optimistic and ambitious

target. There are also concerns being raised about whether

much-needed reforms that the IMF has talked about that China needs to

implement will be sacrificed its growth needs to be at that pace. We

are still waiting for him to start speaking, but we hope to dip in live

to hear what he says. We will let you go so you can go and listen to

what he has to say. Thank you for joining us.

Thailand's military government has at times justified taking power with

claims that it is cracking down on corruption. But some groups have

their doubt. Transparency International rates the risk of

corruption as very high, saying they often pay too much for their

weapons. Has there been progress and if so is it likely to last? The

military says it is succeeding were elected governments have failed,

that corruption is being tackled. But at least one organisation,

backed by the biggest business groups in Thailand, agrees.

TRANSLATION: It is clear from academic and other evidence that the

status of corruption is the best it has been in Thailand for six years.

The concrete measures by this government show that they can solve

the corruption problem. Last year, the coup leader ordered the transfer

of 175 government officials who were under suspicion. Business surveys

suggest bribery levels have come down, and smaller battles, like

cutting scams on Thailand's beaches, have also been won. But other

generals winning or even fighting a larger war? I do not see anything

that is long-term. They go after a lot of corruption cases, which gets

a lot of popularity, but I think the most effective measures to tackle

corruption is about information disclosure. It is about allowing the

average person to know what is going on in the government. And that is a

problem for the military. Its own spending is secretive. When

protesters have raised questions about irregularities in military

projects, they have been arrested. Then there is the political

targeting of military investigations. Ousted PM Yingluck

Shinawatra is one of the first to be charged over a failed rice scheme.

Yet the minister responsible for the massive infrastructure project that

was started under her administration say that charge is often unfair. At

the beginning, not many copycat things, you know. You have to have a

good prior estimate of the project. There is not much space for

corruption. So you don't think there was much corruption in projects you

are responsible for? I think at the moment the projects we were working

on have no problems. In Thailand's politically polarised climate, you

never know who is the biggest offender. Corruption seeps into

every level of society, including the men in green.

We can go back live to the forum that is taking place in China. The

Premier, Li Keqiang, is expected to speak. We are waiting for him to

speak, but you can see all the delegates who are tending, with many

business leaders. They are all keen to hear where China is headed next,

it is the world's second largest economy, and there are lots of

concerns about the slowdown in China. Concerns about the loss of

jobs that a lot of these state-owned companies -- at a lot of these

state-owned companies. In the next programme, we hope to bring you a

bit about what he said. Lets have a look at the markets, because they

are pretty much taking their cues from Wall Street. The Nikkei is

lower, and Australia is down as well. We are waiting for the Hang

Seng to start trading properly. It is the day after the bombings in

Brussels, that has had a big impact, and also the oil prices plunging.

That has had a big effect in Australia particularly, where

commodity prices are falling. That is it for Asia Business