:00:00. > :00:19.THEME PLAYS. Watching for clues about the next big decision by the
:00:20. > :00:27.US Fed. Does anyone really know if rates will rise? And workers demand
:00:28. > :00:33.urgent health from the government with rising rates in China starting
:00:34. > :00:36.to bite. -- help. Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. Welcome to Asia
:00:37. > :00:46.Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon. It's a Tuesday. With just over a
:00:47. > :00:50.week until the Federal Reserve meets, one of its governors has
:00:51. > :00:58.warned against moving too quickly on a rate hike. Meanwhile, Donald Trump
:00:59. > :01:03.has accused the bank of doing what current President Barack Obama wants
:01:04. > :01:07.by keeping interest rates low. Will the bank move and could it have an
:01:08. > :01:13.impact right here in Asia? I asked a chief economist. I think there has
:01:14. > :01:18.been criticism of the Federal Reserve in recent years. Their
:01:19. > :01:22.credibility has been called into question. A big problem is that
:01:23. > :01:27.communication strategy. You hear from one governor one day that rates
:01:28. > :01:34.aren't high enough and the opposite from another the next day that they
:01:35. > :01:39.need to below well for longer. What does he really want? Interest rates
:01:40. > :01:45.to be raised now? Donald Trump, I mean. Boruc wait until after the
:01:46. > :01:50.election? -- or. We need a more coherent policy around normalisation
:01:51. > :01:55.of the Federal Reserve. The fear of markets is that once the Federal
:01:56. > :01:59.Reserve raises it will raise too quickly. What the Federal Reserve
:02:00. > :02:05.needs to do is make a commitment that if the raise they will raise
:02:06. > :02:11.slowly. Should they raise rates already now to take away the fear?
:02:12. > :02:18.This close to an election it should be... It should be off-limits, OK?
:02:19. > :02:25.Most of the guys who are analysts right now under 35s have never seen
:02:26. > :02:29.a rate cut. We expect of reaction... But if there is a rate rise this
:02:30. > :02:33.could impact the presidential elections come November, especially
:02:34. > :02:39.the sentiment of the people. It could affect the democratic because
:02:40. > :02:46.it would be under the administration of Barack Obama. -- Democrats. The
:02:47. > :02:51.Federal Reserve should not be political. It should be independent.
:02:52. > :02:57.There is a period where the Federal Reserve should say no more changes
:02:58. > :03:00.until the election. That is why the debate about a September rise... We
:03:01. > :03:06.never thought they would be one. For Asia's emerging currencies, it
:03:07. > :03:13.affects us. If it keeps moving it impacts the currencies. And things
:03:14. > :03:20.like the Japanese yen. The Japanese are fighting against depreciating
:03:21. > :03:25.yen when they wanted. It affects many currencies around the region.
:03:26. > :03:32.Staying the course that they have right now is really the way to go.
:03:33. > :03:38.Tony. Thousands of people who work in the tourism industry of Taiwan
:03:39. > :03:42.have protested in the capital Taipei demanding government help in the
:03:43. > :03:46.face of a sharp drop from mainland Chinese visitors. They only opened
:03:47. > :03:53.up the Chinese tourists in 2008 and it led to billions of dollars being
:03:54. > :03:58.invested in some 90,000 new jobs. Earlier this year, Taiwan got a new
:03:59. > :04:04.government with a pro- independent stance and as a result many Chinese
:04:05. > :04:10.tourists are staying. We have more. The National Museum, the favourite
:04:11. > :04:15.destination for Chinese tourists. In the past eight years, the number of
:04:16. > :04:20.Chinese tourists in Taiwan has increased from practically none to
:04:21. > :04:28.more than 4 million a year. They now make up what it is and of -- 40% of
:04:29. > :04:35.their tourists. Few hours a man he now. This is how the lobby used to
:04:36. > :04:40.look. Just fool months ago. Now this is what it looks like. That is since
:04:41. > :04:49.May when the new president decided to promote pro- independent. Many
:04:50. > :04:58.believe fewer travel permits are being permitted. Many job sectors
:04:59. > :05:05.are affected, including tour bus companies. This man invested $3.5
:05:06. > :05:12.million to buy 20 tour buses for Chinese tourists. Now they mostly
:05:13. > :05:17.sit idle. They used to handle 200 a day. Now only tends to or have to
:05:18. > :05:22.pay all the expenses, including loan payments, wages to drivers, and
:05:23. > :05:26.insurance and parking fees. Thousands of people have similar
:05:27. > :05:32.concerns and took to the streets of Taipei on Monday. They include those
:05:33. > :05:36.in the hotel, restaurant, and tourism sectors. I'll restaurant is
:05:37. > :05:44.open to Chinese tourists but very few, now. We are suffering. Not
:05:45. > :05:47.everyone agrees Taiwan should be so economically reliant on the rhythm
:05:48. > :05:53.from mainland China and given to their demands. -- tourism.
:05:54. > :05:57.TRANSLATION: The problems they face is the problem Taiwan will face if
:05:58. > :06:01.they only care about the Chinese market. Just because they elected a
:06:02. > :06:05.president China does not like, tourists stopped coming here. Does
:06:06. > :06:09.that mean we should not elect a president they like? Not any other
:06:10. > :06:13.country would function that way. But they are unlikely to change the way
:06:14. > :06:17.they see Taiwan. TRANSLATION: They aren't really Chinese people. But
:06:18. > :06:22.they are part of the same family. Given time, people from both sides
:06:23. > :06:28.will move towards litigation. The trend continues. -- unification.
:06:29. > :06:38.Taiwan could lose $1 billion in tourism this year. Mumbai's steel
:06:39. > :06:44.industry has lost a loss for the third consecutive quarter. They are
:06:45. > :06:49.trying to balance their books by selling off UK operations We have
:06:50. > :06:56.the latest. Losses of this kind of amount were primarily due to
:06:57. > :07:00.discontinued operations in the UK. They did not say much about how they
:07:01. > :07:03.were planning to rescue operations in the UK except that it is still in
:07:04. > :07:09.talks with other steel companies like a German -based group in Europe
:07:10. > :07:15.to help the company consolidate operations and save costs. But all
:07:16. > :07:23.the interested bidders over there has made it clear that it wants Tata
:07:24. > :07:28.Steel to find a solution to pension issues. Its performance in Europe
:07:29. > :07:34.has actually improved over the last few months because of a weakening
:07:35. > :07:39.pound. The company expects demand to improve a bit. But it says in the
:07:40. > :07:44.long-term there are still many challenges. It wants confidence to
:07:45. > :07:49.improve in the market. As far as operations go, their performance has
:07:50. > :07:53.improved. It expects still demand to grow in this market from early due
:07:54. > :08:03.to fast economic growth. That is where they are making money right
:08:04. > :08:07.now. So a mass produced self driving car could be on the road by a
:08:08. > :08:12.different one. How close is the technology? -- 2021. They are just
:08:13. > :08:18.days away from releasing a fleet of self driving taxis in its big. We
:08:19. > :08:24.went to see the chief technology officer. I am here on Ford's campus
:08:25. > :08:29.with the chief technology officer of the company. He and his team are in
:08:30. > :08:32.the hot seat when it comes to delivering self driving cars for the
:08:33. > :08:40.company. We are standing next to him. How does this work? There are
:08:41. > :08:45.many things in this that you don't see. One is a big computer in the
:08:46. > :08:52.trunk processing all of these signals. Some technology is pretty
:08:53. > :08:55.evident. We have spinning laser is up here that are scanning and
:08:56. > :09:01.tracking objects. Multiple cameras up here on this rack. It is looking
:09:02. > :09:08.vehicles and the end interpreting data. People are worried about
:09:09. > :09:13.safety. What is the biggest challenge for a safe self driving
:09:14. > :09:20.vehicle. The things a human naturally does. If there is one the
:09:21. > :09:24.all the scenarios the human can manage, we can manage 10% of them
:09:25. > :09:30.and cover 90% of the others. It is the other strange things that happen
:09:31. > :09:37.in that remaining 10% that we need to be able to sense and interpret
:09:38. > :09:41.and react appropriately to. For the most part, this looks like a regular
:09:42. > :09:46.car. I guess the most obvious thing that the single issues it is that.
:09:47. > :09:50.Yeah, the sensor system. The lasers and cameras. Went to get to a
:09:51. > :09:54.reduction vehicle we will have designers making it look a bit more
:09:55. > :09:58.aesthetically pleasing. Right now the engineers it is easier to have
:09:59. > :10:08.it this way so they can replace parts easier. The self driving
:10:09. > :10:13.vehicle. The market. The market is in early regional trade. Asia is
:10:14. > :10:18.indeed recovering from yesterday's falls. That is after the Nikkei
:10:19. > :10:22.closed solidly higher as they hope the US Federal bank will hold off on
:10:23. > :10:27.raising interest rates next week. And you can see the rest on the
:10:28. > :10:29.board. Thank you so much for investing your time with us. I am
:10:30. > :10:38.Rico Hizon. Sport Today is up next.