17/01/2017 Asia Business Report

Hello, I'm Kasia Madera with BBC World News.

Our top story: The main suspect in the Istanbul nightclub attack

at New Year has been captured following

34-year-old Abdulkadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, was arrested

after a police raid at a housing complex in the city.

He was reportedly found with his four year-old son.

Beijing says it will "take the gloves off" and pursue "strong

countermeasures" if Donald Trump continues to provoke it over Taiwan.

It comes after the US President-elect challenged

And this video is trending on bbc.com: It's time to say

a temporary farewell to the iconic billboards at the centre

The lights have been switched off for renovations and they'll stay off

Northern Ireland is to hold new elections following the collapse

Secretary of State James Brokenshire has set the date for March second.

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

China's president takes centre stage at the world economic forum. And

Theresa May is suspected to signal a hard Brexit in a speech later today.

Welcome to Asia Business Report. China's president is expected to

urge for more inclusive globalisation as the World Economic

Forum's annual meeting kicks off in Switzerland. Xi Jinping will be the

first President to attend the summit from his country and this year's

gathering in the Alpine resort of Davos focuses on how leaders should

respond to growing populism and protectionism.

Tanya Beckett has more. There is a chill wind in Davos this

year and I am not just talking about extremely low temperatures and piles

of snow. The political backdrop is also pretty unforgiving. Top names

from the worlds of business and politics are meeting here to cut

deals at a time when a backlash against globalisation and elitism is

only gathering pace. The forum's founder says social inequality will

not be reduced by raising barriers. I hope that all countries will

favour "All systems -- open global systems, but I think we will have as

a whole, as a world, as a whole, we will have a big setback if we go

back to the old times of big walls around our nationstates. And

stepping in to champion the pro- trade message this year is Chinese

President Xi Jinping. Traditional protagonist America is keeping LO

profile, allowing the world's second largest economy to take centre

stage. A welcome prospect for young trade entrepreneur Laila Dong.

President Xi Jinping's coming shows China is willing to take the world

leadership role and also working closely with other countries in

terms of security, globalisation and providing more job opportunities.

And he has a very high profile audience for his message. Other top

attendees include Colombian singer Shakira, Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg,

Ali Babar's Jack Ma and Christine Lagard. But Francois Hollande and

Angela Merkel are staying away -- Alibaba. But for those who feel they

can afford to tear themselves away from domestic troubles, the World

Economic Forum will be awash with ideas and debate as to whether ever

freer trade is now a certainty. Tanya Beckett, BBC News, Davos.

Well, it is a big day for speeches because later today the UK Prime

Minister Theresa May is expected to spell out what kind of Brexit deal

she once and says the UK will not retain partial membership of the EU

when it leaves. US President-elect Donald Trump says his promise to

negotiate an early trade deal between America and the UK could

strengthen Mrs May's can. Our political editor reports on what we

can expect based on the evidence so far.

Brexit means Brexit. What is that? Brexit means Brexit. And in case you

hadn't heard. Brexit means Brexit. I'd ignore the platitudes, the big

decisions have been clear since June. -- but ignore. There is no

mandate for a deal that involves accepting the free movement of

people as it is hitherto. Unlimited EU immigration won't stay, nor the

power of European judges. Judges, sitting not in Luxembourg, but in

courts across the land. Without them in charge it means we will be out of

the single market. It will talk -- people talk in terms as if we are

leaving the EU and we want to keep parts of membership. We are leaving.

We are coming out. She has even dressed up to make plain how doing

business outside Europe will be more and more important. With an

enthusiastic offer now from stateside of doing a deal at speed.

It is very good news the United States of America wants to do a good

free-trade deal with us and wants to do it very fast and it is great to

hear that from the President-elect Donald Trump. Spreading good cheer

for Brexit backers. We will have the European Court of Justice no longer

overruling our laws and we will be out of the single market so we can

control our borders and probably outside the customs union so we can

negotiate our own trade deals with the rest of the world. This is the

most crucial set of choices any Prime Minister has made four years.

And although the fundamentals were clear before she moved in, their has

been precious little detail in public. Theresa May's opponents fear

she will disappoint because she is juggling her party as well as the

public. Partly because she has had to overcompensate as a former

Remainer to prefer soft to her own party, partly because she has no

mandate, she hasn't been elected by anybody, so she is not in a strong

position, but partly because she has chosen really only to listen to her

50% of people who voted for Brexit and not be almost half of the

remaining part of the voting public who voted for a different future.

Theresa May will tell us and then the other European countries more

about her decisions that will shape Britain for decades to come. Her

political hope, she and the country are not on their way to isolation.

Laura Kuenssberg looking to the key speech, and worries about the hard

Brexit pushing the pound to the lowest since the flash crash in

October last year and today in Asian trade it is back above the 120

level. In other news: the owner of Oakleigh

and Rayban has signed a $49 billion deal to create the biggest company

in eyewear -- Oakley. They are combining in a merger that is one of

the largest ever in Europe, coming after four years of talks.

Rolls-Royce is paying more than $800 million to settle bribery probe is

in the UK, US and Brazilian authorities, the group is accused of

paying to win contracts in Indonesia, China, Brazil and other

markets, and they have announced that the four-year profits will be

better than expected despite weakness in the marine business.

Now, a South Korean court will decide on Wednesday whether the head

of Samsung should be arrested on bribery charges in the latest twist

in a corruption scandal that has engulfed the president of South

Korea. The family run conglomerates known as trebles were typically

considered Untouchables but is it now changing? A question I asked. It

is a big shock and impact to the Korean economy and it may be

shocking, especially Samsung is known for the global brand,

essentially a very world-class company, so, you know, in the past,

many chaebol chairman, like Hyundai, or SK Group, it was shocking with

Samsung. It is not the first time we have seen chaebols in broad in this

kind of scandal but we know, as you say, they are incredibly

influential, these chaebols, just how much of the South Korean economy

do they control? Well, it depends on how you measure that, but if you

just compare it the sales -- compare the sales for Samsung compare to

GDP, it is 70%, so you can see how important the chaebols are to the

Korean economy, Hyundai control shipbuilding and the automotive

businesses, and SK control mobile phone and also the chemical

businesses. Incredibly influential, as you say, but in light of this

scandal do you think these chaebols will now be forced to change how

they do their business? I think so, because it will be a tremendous

impact to them in terms of improving the corporate governance practices.

The major weaknesses of chaebols is the success in issue, so in Korea,

you know, the chaebols are an independent company that is

controlled partly by the family shareholding, but the family

shareholding is fairly little compare to the shareholding, like

maintaining the control, but in Korea there is 50% Inheritence Tax,

so if you have to pay 50% tax, and a chaebol family cannot maintain

control for the next generation, so it is why they are cutting corners

and pushing to the limit, so after the scandal I think chaebols

families should be careful and will be more careful. All right. In how

to work with minority shareholders not at the expense of the business.

A quick look at the markets, because they are almost lower, with the

Nikkei making losses, and exporters have been sold off with investors

ploughing into the Japanese yen as a safe haven after the pound was sold

off so much on Monday, and of course there is a lot of caution ahead of

the key speech from the UK Prime Minister Theresa May later today.

That is it for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks for

watching.