07/04/2017 Asia Business Report

It is BBC World News. The top story: The Chinese leader Xi Jinping has

arrived in Florida for his first face-to-face talks with President

Trump. The key issues will be North Korea's is I'll programme. Mr Trump

also previously said he would make China pay for the big trading

balance between China and the US. In a statement obtained by the BBC, the

Basque military movements Eta says is we'll unilaterally disarm this

week, ending decades of violence between them and the Spanish

government. This is trending online. The French candidate Frances Friel

-- France's feline is being investigated over allegations that

he gave fake jobs to his wife. That's all from me. As for watching

BBC World News. Our top UK stories: Theresa May has told the president

of the European Council Donald task that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is

not up for negotiation during the Brexit talks. Let's cross over life

to Singapore for the latest business news.

Face-to-face for the first time, as Xi Jinping and Donald Trump meet in

Mar-a-Lago. And we look at how a government crackdown in India is

affecting the world's largest exporter of buffalo meat.

Welcome to Asia Business Report. The Chinese president has arrived in the

United States for a meeting with his counterpart President Donald Trump.

Mr Trump is hosting Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The meeting today is the very first time they are talking in person.

There's lots to discuss. Security, are both men in agreement on how to

handle North Korea? And on. Can these dealmakers avert a potential

trade war? Joining us with some answers we hope is our Asia business

correspondent. Lots of big issues. North Korea, the South China Sea,

but focusing on trade. Despite all of the tough campaign talk that we

heard from President Trump, branding China a currency manipulator,

slapping it with punitive tariffs, none of this has happened. They

still have the rest of the net to get through, let's wait and see what

happens. -- rest of the night. At the tone has changed a great deal

before the meeting and now when they are meeting face-to-face. Just look

at the peak is of that historic handshake. Everyone waiting to see

offcourse what kind of camaraderie the two men will build. It is

arguably the most important political relationship in the entire

world. On the face of it everything seems to be quite congenial. Mr

Trump speaking at dinner earlier this evening has even set that China

and the US, the two men, are going to have a very great relationship.

He was using his fabulous word "great" yet again. When they sit

down and have the conversations, high up on the agenda is the trade

deficit. Last year, 347 million dollars trade deficit. Half of that

due to China. -- billion. Mr Trump says that is one of the key things

he will raise during these talks. Both of these leaders don't want to

be seen as weak and are really playing to their domestic audiences

to some extent. What should they be coming away with? A major success

will be if this trip goes off without any faux pas. For the

Chinese it is very much about face. President Xi Jinping has effectively

what is an election in China at the end of the year. He is going to want

to make sure that this meeting comes across as a relationship between

equals. President Trump has offered some political setbacks over the

course of the last couple of weeks, so he will want to make sure that it

looks like he has managed to secure some major agreements from the

Chinese president. But we've still got a day and a half left, so let's

see what happens. That's right and the crucial working lunch tomorrow.

Thanks very much. In other news:, Twitter has refused to reveal the

user behind an account of post to President Trump's tough immigration

policies and says it is challenging the demand for records in court. The

account describes itself as immigration resistance and the

person behind it claims to be a federal employee.

Samsung Electronics has shrugged off the effects of a major recall and

involvement in corruption scandal, posting a bullish estimates of its

profits. The company says its first-quarter operating profit are

likely to have risen 48% on the year, coming in at 8.7 6 billion

dollars. And could this be the year of

travel? According to research, falling FS, higher capacity across

several airlines may encourage more people to pack their bags and

venture beyond their borders -- falling airfares. An online travel

booking firms is more flights are adding destinations, including

Dubai, India and China. I spoke to the president and chief executive at

Xpedia. We are seeing the rise of inter- Asian travel. Many Asian

travellers are going all around Asia. Bangkok my Singapore, Hong

Kong, Taipei, Tokyo. We are all growing quickly. In Osaka, search

volumes are up 90% year-on-year. Japan's focus on expanding Japanese

tourism and Japan as a destination really seems to be working and the

quality of the product is excellent. So we see Expedia's Asian customers

increasingly searching Japan as a destination. I want to ask your

outlook for the airline industry. We are lots of competition. Lower

airfares as well, with all of the budget airlines out there. Does that

automatically translate to more travel for travellers in Asia? More

supply means lower pricing and we are absolutely seeing Lord pricing,

especially on international theirs. -- international fares. That means

more travellers. It is a great time to travel and we see more capacity

coming into the Asian Pacific market. I think the next five years

will be excellent for the Asian consumer. You mentioned some of

those destinations earlier, Osaka, Bangkok and others, but because of

the terror related attacks, have we seen reduced demand for places like

London and Paris? We have seen Paris, for example, was weaker

earlier. But demand has really bounced back. London has benefited

funnily enough from Brexit, as the British pound came down. London

became a much cheaper destination and as a result which seem pretty

enormous demand coming into London and the rest of the UK. we have 15

seconds. How has this impacted your company? Well, in general travel is

growing incredibly quickly. We're going from a society of -- growing

to a society of experiences, so we are happy now.

That was the chief executive of Expedia. Across India, the killing

of cows has been outlawed for years. A few weeks ago they started

cracking down on the killing of buffaloes as well. Hindu

nationalists have been campaigning against the slaughter for decades,

but India is the largest exporter of buffalo meat and more than half of

that supply comes from one particular state. We found out how

it is impacting the industry. This is a thriving industry with

exports alone amounting to $5 billion a year. But for more than

two weeks this plant has been operating at less than 20% of its

capacity. We are getting less orders. Indian buffalo meat goes to

most countries. They are apprehensive. They want to serve

their own supply chains in neighbouring countries. They aren't

sure whether we will be able to supply them on time. It all started

when a Hindu nationalist became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He

opposes the slaughter of cows, considered sacred by the Hindu

majority in India. Cow slaughtering is illegal in most parts of India,

including Uttar Pradesh. But the slaughter of buffaloes is legal. He

said his policy is simply aimed at slaughterhouses that don't have

government licences. But legal plants are feeling the effects as

well. Around 2000 buffaloes would get delivered at this facility every

day. Now, less than 200 remain. Look at the site. It is completely empty.

A sign of this ban's wider effects. Supplies have also stopped

delivering buffaloes because they are concerned about being targeted.

At the local cattle market, usually a hive of activity, it's a similar

story. Traders here fear that local groups are taking the law into their

own hands. TRANSLATION: farmers aren't bringing their buffaloes to

market. They said the police are harassing them. Some vigilantes

groups are also attacking them. No one registers a complaint because

these groups have political backing. The state government stands by its

decision but says anyone acting outside the law will be dealt with.

TRANSLATION: If the buffalo traders are doing their business legally and

are being stopped, that's illegal. Action will be taken against any

groups housing terrorists. Tens of thousands of people work in the meat

business in Uttar Pradesh and most are minority Muslims. There are

fears this kind of policies could fuel religious tensions. For now,

with so many people out of jobs, the supplied hit both at home and

abroad, most are looking for answers about the future of the industry.

A quick look at the markets before we go. Some gains for the Nikkei,

are almost 1%. It's reversing the four-month lows. It closed at

yesterday. A lot of caution still because of the ongoing meeting

between Trump and Xi Jinping. A lot of investors watching that. That's

it for this edition of Asia Business Report. Thanks for watching.

Let's bring you up-to-date with our top stories. China's resident has

arrived in Florida and held his first meeting with Donald Trump. --

president. The Americans briefly -- previously