01/04/2016 Asia Business Report


01/04/2016

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To whether China's Huawei can compete with Apple and Samsung and

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can tourism change its stripes? How one Indian state is on the prowl for

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more tourist dollars. Welcome to Asia Business Report, I am Ali

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Moore. China's tech giant Huawei may not be a household name but it is in

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fact the third biggest smartphone maker in the world, following

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Samsung and Apple. We will find out how the firm performed last year in

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a few hours' time but at home it has been earning more consumers than its

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rivals. I spoke with Duncan Clark, a tech analyst in Beijing. There is

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every reason to think that they can in that they are a very deep

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company, they have a lot of R and 180,000 employees. -- research and

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development. That means they have a fundamental base in ship service and

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others which competitors in China lack. So the key thing to maintain

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scale and momentum is that depth of experience and the global spread

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they have -- chip service. They are a global player but not a recognised

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name as we said. They might be big at home but they have struggled to

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get themselves out there as a consumer brand, haven't they? You're

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right, the company will be 30 years old next year and I have been

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covering them since the mid-19 90s. They have been overseas for two

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decades now. Alibaba is a famous Chinese company, easier to pronounce

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than Huawei. It is a difficult company to get to know. It is a

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private company, not listed. It has had huge in developing markets in

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Europe and across the world, but it's not rand, you will see it as --

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Honour brand is recognisable. If you look at Apple's new iPhone, the key

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market its mainland China. Will that give Huawei a run for its money? No,

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well, everybody wants to be Apple. It is not the largest but in terms

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of profits in the sector it is huge. It is like a Hoover of profits in

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the sector but Huawei has been doing very well, especially against

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Samsung. So the Chinese smartphone market, which is now 90% of all

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phones sold in China, it is increasingly moving. Huawei is on

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the right place in the right time in China. The Bank of Japan's sentiment

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survey has come in below expectations. Confidence in Japanese

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manufacturers worsened in the three months to March. It now stands at

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six, down from plus 12 three months ago. Businesses haven't felt this

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gloomy since the second quarter of 2013 when the Bank of Japan launched

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its easing programme. So what has got Japanese businesses feeling so

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grim? We are joined by the special adviser to Japan's Cabinet office.

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Thank you very much for being with us. We have just gone through the

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latest numbers. If you look at inflation stalling, consumer

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spending weakening, it is not a pretty picture, is it? It looks

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superficially not so good but I think the quarter numbers just

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reflect real uncertainty. And I think this particular quarter,

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businesses really are trying to digests what negative interest rates

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mean to them and these things. So this uncertainty is causing a little

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bit of consternation, at I would say that given today is actually the

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start of the fiscal year in Japan and looking at the news broadcast,

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it doesn't have that gloominess, foreboding here. So I think more of

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this is really the uncertainty based on some of the rate policies that we

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have seen. You have interest rates, but what makes you optimistic? What

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else can the government do to get this economy moving? They have

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pretty much thrown everything at it that they can so far. I am impressed

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at some level, I am disappointed in others but there are a lot of

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externalities which are out of Japan's control, whether it is

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currency, we are off the lows, at having swings that happen where you

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have seven or 8% swings in a few weeks, that will cause some

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uncertainty. Oil prices have stabilised, but obviously the China

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News and the stability that, that is hard to read for a lot of Japanese

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people. The volumes have gone down and we are not seeing those kinds of

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quote unquote fires. We are seeing more confident in that there are

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fewer variables moving around in the last few weeks. But in terms of

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domestic factors, is the pressure now really on Prime Minister Abe to

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hold off on the sales tax increase next year? Retail sales seem to be

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still recovering from the last increase. Yes, that is hard to say.

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There are a lot of things in play. We have an election coming up, there

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are all these events between now and the election and how the election

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itself will play out, these things are very hard to say. I really can't

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comment on how the tax rates and the consumption tax will change, but

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this is all on the table and this is all being debated. And more

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stimulus, do you think that is also on the cards? Yes, when you have

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situations like this, I think the government will definitely pull the

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stops and see what they can do. Stimulus in the right areas is not a

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bad thing and something that is probably a good debt. Thank you for

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talking to us. -- good bet. The fast food giant McDonald's has plans for

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a major expansion in Asia. McDonald's plans to add 1000

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restaurants in China over the next five years which would make it the

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countrycompany's second-biggest market after the US. It also plans

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outlets in Hong Kong and South Korea over the same period -- company's

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second-biggest market. China has withdrawn a takeover offer for a

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hotel company. The consortium cited various market considerations for

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its decision not to proceed. The decision freeze them up to proceed

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with its $13 billion merger deal with Marriot International, creating

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the world's largest hotel chain. fallen slightly as low oil prices

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continue to keep prices down. It now stands at 1%. Inflation for

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industrial products declined 09%, the only category to fall. In a sign

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that consumption may be recovering, service prices rose compared to the

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same time last year -- zero .9%. India has the largest population of

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tigers in the world. It draws hundreds of thousands of visitors

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each year because in some parks tourist can spot the big cat in the

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wild. -- tourists. A bumpy ride into the wild. Slowly, the residents of

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this central Indian Forest begin to show themselves. A big herd of

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Indian boar, and black faced monkeys eating Breakfast. Suddenly a deer

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sends out an alarm call. A predator is on the move. The cars stop and

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wait with bated. Then, out it comes. -- hated -- baited breath. The King

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or Queen of the jungle, a five-year-old tigress. The means to

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earn a living for some. This man lives in a village just

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outside the Jungle. TRANSLATION: I have grown up here. I love the

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Jungle. They survive only because of it and the Tigers. There are hardly

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any jobs in this remote area. In the past five years, the number of

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tourist is coming here have more than doubled and foreign visitors

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who usually prefer the more popular jungles are also setting their

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sights on this area. That is mainly down to a rising tiger population.

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There is a tiger sleeping in those bushes there. I can just about see

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it through my binoculars. It has been lying there for about an hour

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and everyone here is waiting, hoping that it will wake up and then

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perhaps we will get a better look at it. Spotting tigers in the wild is

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an activity that requires a lot of patience. It is unbeatable and it

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costs money. You have to book this car, the guide, and you have to pay

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a fee to enter the Jungle as well. But it is also addictive. You can

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just see the kind of crowds here that have gathered to get a glimpse

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of the tiger. Too many people would scare the wildlife here.

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TRANSLATION: We restrict the number of tourists by restricting the

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number of cars allowed to navigate the Jungle. Only 68 vehicles are

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allowed to the forest at any given time. It is difficult, though, to

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walk the line of mutual respect between the Tigers and the humans

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who come to see them. Time for a quick check of markets. You can look

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at how Asia has opened. The All Ordinaries down quite a lot, almost

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2% and the Nikkei has just opened, also opening lower. Wall Street

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ended lower overnight. That's it from this edition of Asia Business

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Report. Thank you for joining

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