:00:00. > :00:13.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:14. > :00:22.It's Taiwan's new president set for an early clash with China? We
:00:23. > :00:27.assessed the potential impact on the economy -- is. And why is Fujitsu
:00:28. > :00:29.getting involved on the UK referendum on whether to stay in the
:00:30. > :00:41.European Union? Good morning, Asia and hello,
:00:42. > :00:45.world. It's Friday and glad you could join us for this edition of
:00:46. > :00:49.Asia Business Report, I'm Rico Hizon. We start with Taiwan and the
:00:50. > :00:54.new president Tsai Ing-wen steps into the country's top job today and
:00:55. > :00:58.investors will be watching very closely as to how she will address
:00:59. > :01:05.China in her inauguration speech. The mainland is the island's biggest
:01:06. > :01:10.trading partner and the outgoing president was known to be friendly
:01:11. > :01:13.towards Beijing but since Tsai Ing-wen won the elections in
:01:14. > :01:18.January, cross trade relations have becoming greasing the tense. Earlier
:01:19. > :01:23.I spoke to an economist in Taipei to ask him what investors are expecting
:01:24. > :01:29.to hear from the new president. It seems the result of the January
:01:30. > :01:34.election has meant we have seen the early signs of soft economic
:01:35. > :01:40.sanctions. Or example the reduction of the Chinese tourists visiting
:01:41. > :01:46.Taiwan -- for example. In some parts of China it has reduced by almost
:01:47. > :01:51.40%. The visitors from China account for a significant part of Taiwan's
:01:52. > :01:56.foreign visitors each year so the tourism sector in Taiwan is already
:01:57. > :02:00.feeling the pressure. Should investors be concerned about these
:02:01. > :02:06.early warning signs from Beijing and the tough stance of Tsai Ing-wen
:02:07. > :02:11.with the mainland? The economic sanctions will continue to be in
:02:12. > :02:19.place for the foreseeable future. I think regardless of what President
:02:20. > :02:26.Tsai will say today in her speech, Beijing will be a bit disappointed
:02:27. > :02:30.compared with what President Ma has been doing over the last few years.
:02:31. > :02:39.In the short-term investors have a reason to be concerned. It might
:02:40. > :02:43.bring the cross trade China Taiwan relationship to a more healthy and
:02:44. > :02:49.sustainable point, though. The other big challenge for Tsai Ing-wen is
:02:50. > :02:55.the retooling of the Taiwanese economy, with its worst performance
:02:56. > :03:01.in six years in 2015, and a major trading partner of Taiwan is
:03:02. > :03:06.mainland China. Yes, indeed. There are two Mac major structure issues
:03:07. > :03:11.in Taiwan's exports. First is the market concentration as you mention,
:03:12. > :03:16.30% of time on these trade goes through China and now the problem is
:03:17. > :03:21.the product concentration because China's exports are concentrated on
:03:22. > :03:28.ICT and flat panel display areas. All these areas are unfortunately
:03:29. > :03:32.going to be confronted by China's so-called import substitution
:03:33. > :03:38.policy. In the long run Taiwan's exports to China with or without
:03:39. > :03:41.sanctions are going to reduce. They need policies to mitigate these
:03:42. > :03:46.issues by Doug Lhasa diversifying the market and also by having new
:03:47. > :03:48.areas of product -- by diversifying. Roy Chun Lee, an
:03:49. > :03:57.economist based in Taipei. Age is BC will be closing down
:03:58. > :04:01.branches in India following a strategic review showing customers
:04:02. > :04:05.are increasingly choosing to do their banking online -- HSBC. It's
:04:06. > :04:12.been on a massive cost-cutting drive and the lender has slashed more than
:04:13. > :04:17.87,000 jobs overseas. That's over the past five years.
:04:18. > :04:22.American clothing retailer Gap will be closing down 75 stores abroad as
:04:23. > :04:29.they turn their focus to the North American market to revive fortunes.
:04:30. > :04:36.The Cure at retail family includes Old Navy and Banana Republic, it
:04:37. > :04:43.will include all 53 Old Navy outlets in Japan. It will help save 255 and
:04:44. > :04:49.is. The chairman of Fujitsu has warned that if the UK leads the
:04:50. > :04:56.European Union it would reconsider its investments. It's the biggest
:04:57. > :04:59.Japanese employer in the UK. We were told by him in an interview to the
:05:00. > :05:05.BBC that he thought Britain leaving the UK would be a threat to
:05:06. > :05:09.investment stashed the EU. TRANSLATION: So far we believe the
:05:10. > :05:14.UK is the centre of the European region and that's why for the last
:05:15. > :05:19.decade we have made ?3 billion in investment. If there is any change,
:05:20. > :05:23.with the UK remaining in the EU or not, we have to be careful about
:05:24. > :05:31.watching the process, the outcome, then decide if we will make any
:05:32. > :05:34.further investment or not. We have been making the most investment in
:05:35. > :05:38.the UK within the European region and yes we believe that the UK is
:05:39. > :05:44.going to remain at the centre of the EU. Where are we going to make
:05:45. > :05:48.investment to? Well, we have data centre and cloud type services, we
:05:49. > :05:52.have to really see what the issues are, what the challenges are in the
:05:53. > :05:57.respective market and the respective region, then make the decision as to
:05:58. > :06:01.how we are going to invest and in which area. We would like to see the
:06:02. > :06:04.entire EU region as one single market.
:06:05. > :06:10.Mr Yamamoto from Fujitsu. Plain packaging for tobacco products will
:06:11. > :06:13.be introduced in the UK from today after a legal challenge against the
:06:14. > :06:18.new law was dismissed by the High Court. The case was brought about by
:06:19. > :06:23.four of the world's biggest tobacco companies including Philip Morris
:06:24. > :06:27.international. Plain packaging means a ban on all marketing of tobacco
:06:28. > :06:32.packages to make smoking less attractive, especially to young
:06:33. > :06:34.people. Australia was the first country to make plain packaging
:06:35. > :06:41.compulsory in 2012. Phil Mickelson will return nearly $1
:06:42. > :06:44.million in profits linked to an insider trading scheme. He said he
:06:45. > :06:51.had no desire to benefit from training and stock that regulators
:06:52. > :06:54.found questionable. The US market regulator alleged a friend of his
:06:55. > :07:00.had passed on a trading tip to the golfer about Dean food stock that
:07:01. > :07:07.came from the company's Chairman. China's food industry has been in
:07:08. > :07:10.hot water lately with producers in Europe and the US accusing the
:07:11. > :07:16.Chinese of flooding the market with cheap products. Beijing has set
:07:17. > :07:19.aside over 4 billion US dollars to help local governments pay for
:07:20. > :07:25.closures in the steel and coal sectors. The production by steel
:07:26. > :07:30.mills is still picking up. Earlier I spoke with Anna-Lise Jefferies and I
:07:31. > :07:33.asked her for her outlook on the Chinese steel sector. The Chinese
:07:34. > :07:37.steel sector is doing very well right now, this year it is Tronc, we
:07:38. > :07:41.have strong demand partly because of growth in the cities with properties
:07:42. > :07:45.-- strong. That's unexpected because many thought these empty flats we
:07:46. > :07:51.were hearing about would be a problem but we have seen a lot of
:07:52. > :07:54.growth. Also the Chinese government is investing $750 billion in
:07:55. > :07:58.infrastructure over the next two years, so pretty strong. Pretty
:07:59. > :08:05.strong that they even have enough steel supplied to provide the
:08:06. > :08:09.world? Yes. Exports are still good. Yeah, it is all strong. I think
:08:10. > :08:14.exports will go down a bit because the strength inside China is very
:08:15. > :08:19.good right now. Is China really deserving these massive tariffs
:08:20. > :08:25.being imposed by the United States? 522% on this steel? With that kind
:08:26. > :08:31.of steel it is a smaller market, the big markets are the HRC and the
:08:32. > :08:38.retail market is. In that regard, no, most exports are going to get
:08:39. > :08:45.places like Japan and Korea. They go mainly to Asia rather than the US.
:08:46. > :08:50.All of these tips for tax tariffs by the US and China will not only
:08:51. > :08:55.impact the small sector but it could have a knock on effect on other
:08:56. > :08:59.things -- tit for tat. We have to see what happens in terms of trade
:09:00. > :09:03.tariffs around the world, you find those cropping up not just in the US
:09:04. > :09:08.but across the world when it comes to steal. Interesting to see what
:09:09. > :09:13.happens. With the mechanics and the dynamics, where do you see steel
:09:14. > :09:18.prices going forward? That's a good question. It's been very volatile
:09:19. > :09:22.this year for the iron ore and steel segment in Asia, right now things
:09:23. > :09:26.like iron ore prices are in the 50s and steel is relatively strong,
:09:27. > :09:30.margins are good and production is high. But you have money going into
:09:31. > :09:35.infrastructure but also Beijing putting in $15 billion for layoffs
:09:36. > :09:40.because there will be consolidation in the steel industry. Longer term
:09:41. > :09:43.the idea is they will be less steel production coming out of China.
:09:44. > :09:53.Annalisa Jefferies. Before we go, the markets... It is a Friday in
:09:54. > :09:58.deed and Asian stocks as you can see are looking very lethargic and
:09:59. > :10:02.lacklustre. This is after stocks remain under pressure as investors
:10:03. > :10:07.continued to digester possibility that the US Federal Reserve will
:10:08. > :10:14.raise rates potentially as soon as June. The Nikkei two to five down by
:10:15. > :10:17.24% and the macro All Ords down by a 10th. The Hong Kong stock exchange
:10:18. > :10:24.will be opening in about 15 minutes. As for Wall Street, the Dow
:10:25. > :10:28.and the NASDAQ finishing negatively. Thank you so much for
:10:29. > :10:30.investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport Today is coming up
:10:31. > :10:33.next.