:00:00. > :00:00.at her home in Lancashire and then stabbed her repeatedly
:00:00. > :00:22.Final push! Deadline David Ford two Chinese companies looking to take
:00:23. > :00:30.over an Australian energy company. -- day for. And Aung San Suu Kyi is
:00:31. > :00:38.in China. Good new trade deals be on the horizon? -- could.
:00:39. > :00:43.Good morning! Glad you could join us for this Thursday edition of Asia
:00:44. > :00:47.Business Report. Companies from China and Hong Kong have fun till
:00:48. > :00:53.today, Thursday, to convince Australia to sell them its largest
:00:54. > :00:56.electricity network Oz Grid. Last week the Australian government
:00:57. > :01:03.blocked the deal, citing national security. The Chinese company is
:01:04. > :01:08.after a controlling stake. More from Sydney.
:01:09. > :01:12.The decision to block the sale of Australia's Egypt electricity
:01:13. > :01:17.network wanted sections of the Chinese media to accuse Canberra of
:01:18. > :01:24.paranoia and China phobia. One of the bidders already owns electricity
:01:25. > :01:30.assets in South Australia and Victoria. But it seems the company
:01:31. > :01:35.had been given the green light to make a bid for the Ozgrid network in
:01:36. > :01:39.NSW. Back in March when we had the federal government saying it was
:01:40. > :01:44.fine for Chinese readers, we ticked them off the shortlist for this
:01:45. > :01:47.company and a few years later we said it was unacceptable. You have
:01:48. > :01:52.to look for an explanation somewhere and xenophobia could be one of the
:01:53. > :01:56.unfortunate explanations. The government won't say how the sale of
:01:57. > :02:00.Ozgrid to buyers in China and Hong Kong might compromise Australia's
:02:01. > :02:06.national security interests. Investors do insist that their
:02:07. > :02:09.decision is strategic, not political, nor an attempt to placate
:02:10. > :02:20.right or protectionist parties in the upper house of Parliament. The
:02:21. > :02:24.anti-immigration One Nation party will have four senators in Canberra,
:02:25. > :02:29.giving its controversial leader Pauline Hanson power. She has warned
:02:30. > :02:35.Australia was being swamped by Asians. Community groups feared the
:02:36. > :02:40.Pauline Hanson factor has influenced the decision not to sell Ozgrid. I
:02:41. > :02:45.think it sends a negative message to any country that wants to do foreign
:02:46. > :02:48.investment in Australia. And to other sectors like tourism, I think
:02:49. > :02:53.that's already been affected by Pauline Hanson's return and the fact
:02:54. > :02:57.that there are things going on in this country that scare other
:02:58. > :03:03.tourists away. Why would you want to go to a country where you don't feel
:03:04. > :03:08.welcome or you feel under threat? China is Australia's biggest trading
:03:09. > :03:11.partner. Future prosperity depends on those commercial ties. They are
:03:12. > :03:16.unlikely to be unduly streamed in the short term by the Ozgrid saga,
:03:17. > :03:27.what if the Chinese feel an fairly locked out future deals there could
:03:28. > :03:30.be trouble ahead. Earlier I speak political economist
:03:31. > :03:34.from the university of Sydney and asked if this deal was likely to go
:03:35. > :03:39.ahead. I don't think there will be much change, even though both
:03:40. > :03:44.companies have been given another week to revise their bids. I think
:03:45. > :03:49.it was just a formality and I don't think there will be any change and I
:03:50. > :03:54.think both of them will be still denied the opportunity to acquire
:03:55. > :03:57.this particular asset and the NSW state government will have to
:03:58. > :04:04.comment is a new bidding process. What is really at the heart of this
:04:05. > :04:13.issue? Is it Chinese phobia? I am not a foreign relations expert. I
:04:14. > :04:21.think it has got wider implications in terms of policy inconsistency.
:04:22. > :04:24.They're in mind, Ozgrid is the largest electricity utility in the
:04:25. > :04:32.world that has a strong global reputation. It has owned electricity
:04:33. > :04:36.assets in Australia since 2012. So they are in the same sort of assets
:04:37. > :04:40.in the state of South Australia, in the state of Victoria, in the
:04:41. > :04:48.national capital and they were ticked off as one of... As an
:04:49. > :04:52.accepted bid for the first privatisation of the networks, NSW
:04:53. > :04:56.networks, that was done last November. So there's been a change
:04:57. > :04:59.of attitude at the last minute in this particular bidding process and
:05:00. > :05:03.the only thing that the government has said is because of national
:05:04. > :05:10.security concerns. The Chinese and the Hong Kong power companies are
:05:11. > :05:15.also ticked off by this latest flip-flopping of policies from the
:05:16. > :05:17.Australian government. Could their current operations already in
:05:18. > :05:23.Australia be jeopardised because of this? I don't think the Australian
:05:24. > :05:28.government would consider jeopardising their current ownership
:05:29. > :05:32.interests. But I think they've drawn a line and said they aren't prepared
:05:33. > :05:43.to consider further acquisitions of existing assets. There is another
:05:44. > :05:47.electricity privatisation muted for the state of Western Australia, so
:05:48. > :05:51.it will be interesting to see if these large global energy companies
:05:52. > :05:55.are willing to bid for those assets. But I would think now they will be
:05:56. > :06:00.deterred. The political economist based in
:06:01. > :06:06.Sydney there. In other business news, the US tech giant is slashing
:06:07. > :06:11.up to 7% of its global workforce. It is estimated the plan to cut 5500
:06:12. > :06:17.jobs will cost the company $700 million in charges. But the number
:06:18. > :06:20.is far less than what was feared after reports earlier suggested
:06:21. > :06:30.14,000 jobs would go. The world's diggers to videogame
:06:31. > :06:35.company has been saying they had a 40% jump in profits. It is planning
:06:36. > :06:41.to spend big on premium content. Advertising revenue has more than
:06:42. > :06:51.doubled, at 60%, and net profits have come in at 1.6 billion dollars.
:06:52. > :06:57.The world's biggest computer company has reported profits up two thirds
:06:58. > :07:03.compared to one year ago. Net profits expanded to 173 million, far
:07:04. > :07:09.beating analyst expectations, but it smartphone sales were weak.
:07:10. > :07:11.Minutes from the US Federal Reserve's last meeting reveals
:07:12. > :07:17.policymakers are split over when the next interest rate rise should be.
:07:18. > :07:21.Some said members believe a rise is needed soon while others want to
:07:22. > :07:28.wait for more economic data. The US central bank opted to hold rates
:07:29. > :07:30.between .5% and a quarter of a percent, with another increase
:07:31. > :07:37.expected before the end of the year, possibly as early as next month. As
:07:38. > :07:40.you can see right now, the Dow Jones was up to 22 points. The NASDAQ was
:07:41. > :07:53.flat. But in positive territory. Aung San Suu Kyi is in China this
:07:54. > :07:56.week. More opportunities for trade could be on the agenda. An exchange
:07:57. > :08:02.of goods between China and Myanmar or $10 million next year. There are
:08:03. > :08:05.likely to be talks over the fate of land project which has been put on
:08:06. > :08:13.hold after Myanmar questioned the potential benefits to its economy.
:08:14. > :08:18.Will it go ahead? Aung San Suu Kyi has appointed a
:08:19. > :08:24.committee to study the project. This is a very smart move and it gives
:08:25. > :08:29.her time. It was very important, the fact that she is going to China, she
:08:30. > :08:33.is in China right now, before she visited the United States.
:08:34. > :08:38.I wanted to find out about that! How significant is that? It is very
:08:39. > :08:45.significant. Relations between Myanmar and China have really made
:08:46. > :08:56.wild swings in the last 20 years. For many years China was the main
:08:57. > :08:59.backer. The government has moved much closer to the United States and
:09:00. > :09:03.Aung San Suu Kyi is making a very deliberate effort since she has come
:09:04. > :09:08.to power to improve relations with China. This is very delicate. She
:09:09. > :09:19.needs China to help resolve the border issues. She needs also
:09:20. > :09:26.China's involvement in the Myanmar economy. It will be very tough.
:09:27. > :09:31.How are investors viewing all of this? Do they need to bring
:09:32. > :09:36.additional investment into the country?
:09:37. > :09:43.China is already a trading partner. Myanmar needs China and China needs
:09:44. > :09:48.Myanmar. China already builds two pipelines across Myanmar, to give
:09:49. > :09:55.access to the sea. So China is a natural big investor in Myanmar. But
:09:56. > :10:01.Myanmar doesn't want to be a Chinese client state. It wants to deal with
:10:02. > :10:07.China on its own terms. That will be very delicate for her to negotiate a
:10:08. > :10:14.good relationship. That was a Myanmar business expert.
:10:15. > :10:19.Before we go, a quick look at the markets. This is where the
:10:20. > :10:25.Asia-Pacific market stand. We are seeing lacklustre movement, down by
:10:26. > :10:33.about 1.25%, and the All Ords are flat to hire. Thanks for investing
:10:34. > :10:35.your time with us. -- to higher. Olympic results coming up next.
:10:36. > :10:37.The government's been accused of watering down its long-awaited
:10:38. > :10:39.strategy to tackle childhood obesity in England.
:10:40. > :10:41.Campaigners are angry that the action plan,
:10:42. > :10:43.that will be published later this morning,
:10:44. > :10:47.does not contain curbs on junk food advertising or restrictions on cut