:00:00. > :00:00.James stands down three weeks after election. She says she was going for
:00:00. > :00:14.personal and professional reasons. Now on BBC News, the business news
:00:15. > :00:20.with Rico Hizon in Singapore. Caught spying? Internet company Yahoo
:00:21. > :00:26.scanned mail accounts at the request of the American government. Cheap
:00:27. > :00:38.steel to fake handbags, China fights charges of unfair trading practices.
:00:39. > :00:44.Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. Welcome to Asia Business Report. We
:00:45. > :00:49.begin with Yahoo, in the spotlight with reports it has built a custom
:00:50. > :00:54.programme to search incoming e-mails of its customers. Reuters claims the
:00:55. > :00:58.search for this information was executed at the request of the US
:00:59. > :01:10.intelligence officials. I spoke earlier with Dave Lee from San
:01:11. > :01:17.Francisco. This report quotes unnamed former Yahoo employees which
:01:18. > :01:21.suggests it was looking at incoming e-mail from its e-mail users for
:01:22. > :01:25.certain strings of characters and certain phrases and words that might
:01:26. > :01:31.be of interest to the US intelligence service. We've not been
:01:32. > :01:35.able to confirm this and Yahoo say they are a law abiding company
:01:36. > :01:39.complying with US laws, so not confirming things either. We are
:01:40. > :01:45.waiting for some of the crucial detail about this set up, if indeed
:01:46. > :01:49.it was taking place and precisely what information Yahoo might have
:01:50. > :01:52.been gathering. It is another, as you have mentioned, controversial
:01:53. > :01:58.moment for Yahoo which, as we know, was recently sold. Another dramatic
:01:59. > :02:03.day in the history of a company that was once the most popular on the
:02:04. > :02:10.Internet but is now fading out. They were just acquired, this comes less
:02:11. > :02:17.than two weeks after the Internet company said hackers have stolen the
:02:18. > :02:23.date of some half a billion users. Yes, that was the bad news they had
:02:24. > :02:27.recently -- data. It happened as far back as 2014 and affected half a
:02:28. > :02:34.billion users. This will add to their woe. I spoke with Horizon, who
:02:35. > :02:39.is planning to buy Yahoo for $4.8 billion and they have refused to
:02:40. > :02:43.comment on these reports. When it comes to the hacking, they said they
:02:44. > :02:49.are considering their interest. It is dramatic timing for Yahoo. That
:02:50. > :02:53.deal is yet to be finalised. As it stands, neither company are being
:02:54. > :02:59.drawn on whether that will affect that huge sale. So, briefly, is
:03:00. > :03:05.there the possibility that Horizon will back out from this deal? There
:03:06. > :03:08.is the possibility, although it is worth stating that they have made no
:03:09. > :03:13.hint that it is something they would consider doing. And until we have
:03:14. > :03:18.clear information about what Yahoo have perhaps done, it is premature
:03:19. > :03:22.to make suggestions such as that, simply because many US technology
:03:23. > :03:27.companies, as we know from the Edward Snowden leaks were in some
:03:28. > :03:31.ways complicit with the US government. So the question is how
:03:32. > :03:39.much Yahoo helped with the US intelligence services. Our
:03:40. > :03:43.correspondent at Yahoo in San Francisco. China's efforts to
:03:44. > :03:46.control the debt problem are important to the future of global
:03:47. > :03:52.growth, the message from the IMF, which has released world economic
:03:53. > :03:55.outlook details just days after the fund introduced the yuan to the
:03:56. > :04:02.basket of reserve currencies. My colleague caught up with the IMF's
:04:03. > :04:08.chief economist. The decision that the fund made, which came into
:04:09. > :04:11.effect a few days ago on the SDR symbolises the remarkable
:04:12. > :04:21.achievement of China and the Chinese people in building an economy which
:04:22. > :04:26.is, you know, of any single economy the biggest contributor to global
:04:27. > :04:33.growth, which is even more important in global trade, and whose currency
:04:34. > :04:38.is increasingly used worldwide. Of course, if not where the euro is, it
:04:39. > :04:44.is not where the yen is, but that will come as China further opens up
:04:45. > :04:48.its financial markets down the road, as it embraces a more flexible
:04:49. > :04:53.exchange rate regime and as it continues to reform. Your forecast,
:04:54. > :05:00.your economic forecast for the country is rosy. What problems is it
:05:01. > :05:04.masking? I am thinking about, is it hiding a looming debt crisis? Debt
:05:05. > :05:09.crisis might be an overstatement but it is certainly true that we view
:05:10. > :05:16.the current near-term stability as perhaps being purchased by longer
:05:17. > :05:21.term risks. There is too much credit growth, too much of that is
:05:22. > :05:30.supporting sunset sectors with excess capacity, the problem of
:05:31. > :05:36.imposing hard budget constraints on state-owned enterprises has not been
:05:37. > :05:41.addressed energetically and. China has really reformed remarkably and
:05:42. > :05:51.made remarkable progress in rebalancing the economy but the
:05:52. > :05:54.current on target growth is, I think, somewhat deceptive in terms
:05:55. > :06:00.of what could be sustainable in the long run -- energetically enough.
:06:01. > :06:04.That was the IMF chief economist speaking with our correspondent. We
:06:05. > :06:08.are looking at trade this week and the impact around the world. China
:06:09. > :06:12.relies heavily on exports to sustain economic growth but has been accused
:06:13. > :06:16.of unfair trading practices, including flooding the market with
:06:17. > :06:20.cheap steel and fake handbags. US rates have told the BBC China is not
:06:21. > :06:27.a level playing field for foreign companies. -- US representatives.
:06:28. > :06:32.Robin Brant from Shanghai. China started opening up its economy
:06:33. > :06:36.almost 40 years ago. Robots do much of the work now. Joint ventures like
:06:37. > :06:47.this between the UK's Jaguar Land Rover and china's Chirai are the
:06:48. > :06:51.only. Germany has called it coerced technology transfer. -- china's. How
:06:52. > :06:55.is it for foreigners who don't have a billion to invest? People like New
:06:56. > :07:01.Zealander Justin had been able to set up here on their own since China
:07:02. > :07:05.joined the WTO in 2001. You will see the authorities more often. They
:07:06. > :07:09.will be interested in what you are doing more often. They are always
:07:10. > :07:13.generally very friendly and helpful to deal with but they are quite keen
:07:14. > :07:19.to apply at all the rules, and if there is a fine you for some kind of
:07:20. > :07:23.non-compliance, they are definitely very keen to apply that fine.
:07:24. > :07:27.Whereas, for my locally invested business, we really don't see the
:07:28. > :07:31.authorities very much at all. Opening up to the world has helped
:07:32. > :07:35.make China a richer country but much of the economy remains closed to
:07:36. > :07:46.foreigners. Some of the biggest names that have excelled here still
:07:47. > :07:51.face one serious problem. Watchers? -- Watches? This is exactly the type
:07:52. > :07:56.of thing that drives Apple, Gucci, very mad. Fake goods are ubiquitous.
:07:57. > :08:01.Protecting intellectual poverty, clamping down on copiers is a
:08:02. > :08:06.challenge in China. What is this? Some tech firms even keep their best
:08:07. > :08:12.secrets out of the country, all of which makes trading in China
:08:13. > :08:16.different to trading with China. Thousands of Indonesians queued up
:08:17. > :08:20.to declare their assets last week as part of a new tax amnesty programme.
:08:21. > :08:24.The initiative was deemed a success by its finance minister but critics
:08:25. > :08:29.say the amount declared by wealthy Indonesians is just a fraction of
:08:30. > :08:33.what the country needs. Our correspondent spoke with one of
:08:34. > :08:41.Indonesia's richest men who explained why he decided to sign up.
:08:42. > :08:52.Actually, our Cole family business is in Indonesia but it is registered
:08:53. > :08:56.outside Indonesia -- whole. Now we go back. So this tax amnesty has
:08:57. > :09:01.convinced you to return the ownership of a company to Indonesia?
:09:02. > :09:09.It yeah, and then it will increase the taxpayer platform. And then let
:09:10. > :09:20.everything goes and do that, say, normal system. Taxation platform
:09:21. > :09:25.system. It is very good to the Indonesia economy. What makes you
:09:26. > :09:29.confident that the same problems you experienced in the past, corrupt
:09:30. > :09:38.government officials, asking for bribes from you, won't happen again?
:09:39. > :09:46.I still believe that if we have good government, good president,
:09:47. > :09:56.everything may be OK. For instance, 30 years ago, who believe that China
:09:57. > :10:04.will become such as it is today? China today is Indonesia tomorrow. I
:10:05. > :10:11.strongly believe that we are going to be the next giant in this area.
:10:12. > :10:17.Mochtar Riady, one of Indonesia's richest man. Before we go, a look at
:10:18. > :10:23.the markets. And as you can see, lacklustre for most regional areas
:10:24. > :10:29.after US stocks retreated as the dollar rose to a two-month high on
:10:30. > :10:33.upbeat economic data and a potential rate rise at the end of the year.
:10:34. > :10:35.Thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport Today is
:10:36. > :10:47.coming up next. Hello, you're watching BBC News.
:10:48. > :10:52.Stops -- Our top stories: The vice presidential candidates get their
:10:53. > :10:53.moment in the spotlight as they go head-to-head in a televised debate.