24/10/2017

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:00:00. > :00:16.Now it's time for World Business Report.

:00:17. > :00:19.The White House says President Trump will talk tough on trade with China

:00:20. > :00:23.when he visits Asia next week - we look at what's at stake.

:00:24. > :00:27.Well, this US senator definitely thinks so,

:00:28. > :00:49.In a moment we will be talking more of doubt the impact of that

:00:50. > :00:54.congress, because today marks the last day of the five yearly congress

:00:55. > :00:58.in China, and has confirmed Xi Jinping will be given a second

:00:59. > :01:04.five-year term. He will be leader for the next five years.

:01:05. > :01:07.Xi will even have his name inscribed in the party's constitution,

:01:08. > :01:09.placing him alongside Mao in the Chinese pantheon.

:01:10. > :01:12.But as Xi consolidates his power, America is ramping up the pressure.

:01:13. > :01:16.On Monday, the White House said that on his forthcoming trip to Asia next

:01:17. > :01:19.week President Trump will press China to cease what the White House

:01:20. > :01:21.calls its "predatory trade practices."

:01:22. > :01:23.And he will do that by addressing the "problem

:01:24. > :01:31.goods worth over $319 billion from China, but only exported

:01:32. > :01:50.But here's the question - will China be in any mood to listen?

:01:51. > :01:52.Joining us now from Newcastle is Freya Beamish, Chief Asia Economist,

:01:53. > :02:14.Looking back over the last few days, we're in a Xi Jinping, as suspected,

:02:15. > :02:19.will be the general secretary of the Communist Party and will continue to

:02:20. > :02:22.lead China. What else do we know about China's economic programme

:02:23. > :02:27.that we didn't know, perhaps, five days ago? It has really just

:02:28. > :02:30.confirmed our impression of how the Chinese leaders view their social

:02:31. > :02:37.contract, really, with the Chinese people. Xi Jinping was widely

:02:38. > :02:41.expected to consolidate power. It is not really anything new comedy

:02:42. > :02:47.edition of his name to the constitution. -- anything new, the

:02:48. > :02:50.addition of his name. What we have learned is that the focus of the

:02:51. > :02:56.Communist Party has shifted away from this tunnel vision approach

:02:57. > :02:59.towards growth targeting and the scope has broadened quite

:03:00. > :03:04.significantly suit deleveraging, but also to the environment. There is a

:03:05. > :03:08.recognition that the Chinese Communist Party, to stay in power,

:03:09. > :03:11.and for Xi Jinping to move forward with his second term, he cannot just

:03:12. > :03:17.be thinking about targeting growth and squeezing a few more years of

:03:18. > :03:22.fast growth out of there can be. Actually, that fast GDP growth, in

:03:23. > :03:28.the course of the past two decades, has actually caused a huge amount of

:03:29. > :03:34.degradation in the environment, it has been very investment led growth

:03:35. > :03:37.which has been powered by an excess of savings within China, and has

:03:38. > :03:41.been very wasteful investment, in many cases. So those resources that

:03:42. > :03:45.the Chinese people have spent and will not get back and in the course

:03:46. > :03:56.of doing that, they have actually caused a great deal of pollution

:03:57. > :03:59.within their own country. What I took away from his speeches that he

:04:00. > :04:03.is now, along with other leaders, shifting away from this focus on

:04:04. > :04:07.growth targets. Maybe they will continue to post growth targets in

:04:08. > :04:10.2018 or maybe they will take a bold move and say, we're not going to

:04:11. > :04:16.with these growth targets. Maybe that move comes later, in 2019. The

:04:17. > :04:21.key point for 2018 is that they are going to allow real GDP growth to

:04:22. > :04:27.move lower and to accept that the lower growth, as long as it is high

:04:28. > :04:31.quality growth. Let's move on to what is going to be happening next

:04:32. > :04:33.week as President Trump makes his opinions felt more strongly about

:04:34. > :04:39.relationships with China and Chinese trade. How does China see this

:04:40. > :04:43.relationship in terms of trade? Does it see it as a problem? Is it going

:04:44. > :04:52.to be accommodating to American concerns? Chinese leaders have

:04:53. > :04:56.enough problems domestically without bending over backwards to give a

:04:57. > :04:59.victory to Donald Trump. This is about presentation, in the short

:05:00. > :05:05.term at least, about whether these two leaders can have enough common

:05:06. > :05:08.ground to go back to the people who keep them in power in their own

:05:09. > :05:12.countries and presented as a victory, only say, hey, we do need

:05:13. > :05:16.to worry about a guy any more. In the short term there is probably

:05:17. > :05:19.enough common ground there. In the long-term, when growth begins to

:05:20. > :05:23.weaken in the US, say in 2019, growth is already weakening in

:05:24. > :05:26.China, the longer that goes on the more likely it is these two leaders

:05:27. > :05:30.will need something outside of their own economy, sadly, to point out and

:05:31. > :05:35.say, this is why things are going wrong. Thank you very much indeed.

:05:36. > :05:39.Yesterday, we reported how London is trying to cut pollution

:05:40. > :05:42.by introducing an extra daily fee on old cars that drive

:05:43. > :05:47.and Singapore has even gone a step further.

:05:48. > :05:51.Rico Hizon is is there of course, so Rico, what are they up to?

:05:52. > :06:00.Are you going to be able to drive into town tomorrow? I don't think

:06:01. > :06:03.so! From February, I will not be able to, because Singapore will soon

:06:04. > :06:08.freeze the number of cars on the road. This will prevent citizens

:06:09. > :06:13.from eyeing new vehicles until the policy is reviewed in about three

:06:14. > :06:17.years. This frees begins in February and the citystate's land transport

:06:18. > :06:26.authority said the lack of available land planned investments in public

:06:27. > :06:29.transport justified this new policy. Singapore is smaller than New York

:06:30. > :06:32.City and land is a precious commodity. Officials want to ensure

:06:33. > :06:35.the most productive use of the remaining space. Authorities here

:06:36. > :06:39.have been controlling the remaining traffic by auctioning off the right

:06:40. > :06:43.to own a vehicle. With a current population of around 5.6 million

:06:44. > :06:51.people, the citystate just has around 600,000 cars. But if we take

:06:52. > :06:55.a look at the pricetag, they are exorbitantly expensive, and among

:06:56. > :06:59.the highest in the world. A mid-range car in Singapore typically

:07:00. > :07:04.costs four times as much as it would in the US. This new growth cap

:07:05. > :07:09.applies to private cars and motorcycles but not to goods and

:07:10. > :07:12.vehicles and buses. So it is about beating pollution and managing the

:07:13. > :07:13.lack of space. Rico Hizon, thank you.

:07:14. > :07:16.The stream of revelations about the part social networks

:07:17. > :07:18.played in Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 election has

:07:19. > :07:21.brought Facebook and others even closer attention from politicians,

:07:22. > :07:25.Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google will soon be

:07:26. > :07:42.But they also have good reason to be nervous about the reaction

:07:43. > :07:47.In New York state, a law will soon be considered that would ban

:07:48. > :07:49.anonymous adverts on Facebook and rival networks.

:07:50. > :07:51.The BBC's Michelle Fleury spoke with the State legislator

:07:52. > :07:57.Todd Kaminsky who is sponsoring the bill.

:07:58. > :08:03.It kind of spreads like poison ivy and I think it is harmful to the

:08:04. > :08:07.help of democracy. New York state senator Todd Kaminski is upset about

:08:08. > :08:12.how social media is deceiving voters in his district. Sunlight is the

:08:13. > :08:16.greatest disinfectant. He wants to pass a bill which would force

:08:17. > :08:20.Facebook and other online sites to disclose who pays for political ads

:08:21. > :08:25.in his state. I come from a district in the suburbs of New York city

:08:26. > :08:28.where people use Facebook Everly. People have been targeted by

:08:29. > :08:33.political groups, anonymously, with advertising. When you look at an ad

:08:34. > :08:39.like this, what it will show you on the bottom is, 320 likes, 80

:08:40. > :08:44.comments, and you think, what happened my reputation in my

:08:45. > :08:47.community? Is very hard. Haven't these tactics been employed since

:08:48. > :08:51.time immemorial when it comes to politics? Yes, and I think in our

:08:52. > :08:54.time we have done our best to address that. We have regulated

:08:55. > :08:58.television appropriately so that people no what they are relying on

:08:59. > :09:02.and how they should evaluate things based on where they are coming from.

:09:03. > :09:06.The haven't done that would be into it. His actions come after both

:09:07. > :09:09.Facebook and Twitter said their platforms would use by Russian

:09:10. > :09:14.operatives in the 2016 US presidential election. I want to

:09:15. > :09:18.bring that down to a local level. It happened apart from a presidential

:09:19. > :09:24.election. It happens apart from Russia. There are well-heeled

:09:25. > :09:28.political organisations in New York state doing it right now in local

:09:29. > :09:31.races. Facebook has become a really central part of our political

:09:32. > :09:35.discussion but it isn't regulated, unlike television, where you have to

:09:36. > :09:39.say where the ad is from, it has become the wild west. Frustrated

:09:40. > :09:44.lawmakers have asked executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter to

:09:45. > :09:50.testify on Capitol Hill next month. Head of the hearing, Twitter has

:09:51. > :09:53.given Congress 201 Russian linked accounts, and Facebook has turned

:09:54. > :09:58.over 3000 ads ought by entities linked to the Russian government. It

:09:59. > :10:02.sounds like, in the case of Facebook, you don't think they have

:10:03. > :10:06.gone far enough. The jury is out. I would love them to be all over this

:10:07. > :10:10.and be proven wrong. I don't think we should rely on the providers

:10:11. > :10:13.themselves. I will be back in about five minutes to talk about the

:10:14. > :10:16.newspapers with Ben Bland.