we'll see what lies ahead for the world's second largest economy. talks to have a ceasefire stall. raising prospects of more disruption in the red sea. hello and a warm welcome to asia business report. thank you forjoining me. now, let's begin in china where after a week of meetings, the annual parliamentary gatherings come to an end today. during this year's national people's congress, premier li keqiang promised to turn things around for the economy and set a growth target of 5% for this year — similar to last year's goal. law makers pledged to enact new laws that would modernise china's economy. beijing has said developing artificial intelligence and other developing artificial intelligence like robotic

and quantum computing are important for long—term growth. a senior strategist gave us his highlights. i think that there are two things that really catch my attention. one is the government's emphasis on improving co—ordination between governments, local governments and local governments and the central government. now, not many people talk about this. but i think this is quite important, because if this co—ordination programme or plan is implemented effectively, it will go a long way to improve policy implementation in china. because very often, governments don't really talk to each other much, and that really slows down government implementations. this is very important for me. and the number two important thing is, as you mentioned earlier, that there's an emphasis on the development of ai tech development and so on. that goes a long way to underscore the policy framework that beijing wants to implement to develop the economy into a hi—tech industry,

hi—tech new economy. now, the structural rebalancing from heavy industry polluting industry to a tech industry is implemented effectively, it will go a long way to first increase productivity, because it's the hi—tech element there, the ai element there. and secondly, to make the economy more efficient as compared to the old mode of debt, finance, investment or heavy investment orientated mode. shifting to higher tech industries as you described it — that's not a short—term prospect, is it? that isn't going to help them in the short—term with their gdp goals and youth unemployment in particular. how do you think they'll address those things? certainly, this is a medium to long—term goal, as you mentioned. in the short—term, there's from a macropolicy perspective, there's only one thing that the government can do or has to do, and that is to increase policy easing from the macro monetary

fiscal perspectives. because this rebalancing towards a hi—tech economy, changing the structure of the system, is what we call the creative destruction process, which is typically disinflationary or even deflationary. because old industries are and new industries created. but the rate of destruction will be higher than the rate of creation. so the net impact on the economy is a drag on growth. so that's why macro policy comes in and it has to be at times when needed to be more aggressive in easing to protect growth so that the structural reform and the leveraging programmes can carry on. what is your outlook. more pain ahead before things improve in 202a? economic pain as ahead but beijing can handle it if it starts with the assertive easing programme it started

in recent months. we see a fair chance chinese growth and chinese asset prices will go on to sustain the recovery, if not the economy will be stuck in the doldrums and chinese asset prices might go down. china is also taking steps to attract foreign investors back to the country. premier li also announced the government plans to relax restrictions on foreign investments including in areas like telecommunications and health care. that comes on top of previous announcements removing all restrictions on investing in the manufacturing sector. new foreign direct investment in china fell to the lowest level in three years last year. john stein is chair of the american chamber of commerce in china and says that the businesses are not entirely convinced by the announcements. so, seanjoins us now. why such scepticism? yes, scepticism i think may be too strong a word. the reason why the business community wasn't as enthusiastic as we might have

hoped is that the announcement to liberalise manufacturing and those roles isn't what web businesses are looking for. the reason why foreign investment fell to the lowest number in a number of years is because of other issues. so the government knows what it needs to do if it wants to encourage investment. it needs to level the playing field. for example, china says that it is open to things that are made in china. but often made in china means made in china by a chinese company, orsometimes made in china by a chinese company in the province or the area where the item is being purchased. we also see that the government announced last august a very ambitious slate of reforms that would have gone a long way to help reassure the foreign business community that they're welcome, that their investments will be protected, and that they'll have a level playing field. and so, really where the business community is, is they're looking for implementation as opposed to promises. so promises and policy pronouncements aren't going to move markets. they aren't going to convince boards to invest. they need to see tangible action on the ground. so that's what the business community is still waiting for.

speaks louder than words stop the japanese economy has avoided a technical recession revised gdp data show that expanded zero point % in the last few months of last year better than the initial estimate of 0.4% contraction. the upward revision comes a after expectations the bank of japan could ditch its negative interest rates as early as this month. iceland and liechtenstein, switzerland, are set to invest $100 billion in india over 15 years. in turn, india will lift tariffs on industrial products from the four european states. the deal still needs to be ratified by the four countries before it takes effect. over the last two years, india has signed trade pacts with australia and the united arab emirates. while officials say another with britain is in its final stages. now, let's turn to the middle east now where hopes

for a ceasefire in gaza during the islamic holy month of ramadan have faded after mediation talks in cairo proved unsuccessful so far. that's raising concerns that the attacks on commercial ships in the red sea will increase. these attacks have been carried out by houthis who are based in yemen. a former us ambassador to yemen gave us his take to the impact of the stalled talks. what's going to happen is the threat of greater violence and perhaps even more widespread violence is going to increase because of the failure to get to a ceasefire yet. so there are several issues that were contingent on getting this ceasefire. one, of course, is the increased flow of humanitarian assistance, which is even more important during ramadan than it is at normal times of the year. and then, also, of course, we have the outstanding israeli

threat of going to rafah if there was not a ceasefire agreement that was going to lead to increased release of hostages. and then beyond that, of course, we have the normal kinds of greater tensions in the west bank and injerusalem for the month of ramadan and we're going to have to grapple with that as well as both israel's northern border with lebanon. and in the red sea. and just speaking of commercial shipping in the red sea and the gulf of aden, we saw the first deaths on commercial ships last week caused by houthi militants that are based in yemen and supporting palestinians. do you think we'll see more seeing as a ceasefire hasn't materialised? well, i think that certainly, the houthis are going to continue with their efforts to attack shipping in the gulf of aden, the red sea. hopefully they will be

unsuccessful and we're seeing, of course, greater co—operation among the us and its allies and partners to try to safeguard international shipping. but as we saw last week, they can't be ioo% successful. so the threat is certainly there. that was a former ambassador to yemen giving us his impact on the impact of stalled talks. the saudi giant aramco increased payments to shareholders by a third last year despite a decline with with profits. it played $90 billion in dividends while net profit fell 25% due to production cuts, the state owned firm looking to invest in china where it believes demand for oil is growing. energy prices which jumped in 2022 after russia invaded ukraine fell sharply last year. in aviation news lufthansa's cabin crew union has called on members to strike on tuesday and wednesday to press demands for higher

pgy- the union saying the strike would impact departures from munich on wednesday. lufthansa said 1100 passengers could be affected. they warned on thursday its operating losses in the first quarter would widen and gave a subdued up to 2020. and entertainment use nintendo is creating another super mario movie in partnership with a us animation studio illumination. the sequel to the super mario �*s movie will be released in select markets in 2026. the japanese firm saying the new movie further saying to put smile on everyone�*s faces through entertainment. nintendo has accelerated its development of non— gaming content in recent years. that's it for this edition of asia business report. back with more tomorrow.

voiceover: more stories from across the uk, head j to the bbc news website. not roadworks, just a road system that can't cope. this was the centre of newborough a few summers ago. the authorities closed off the road because the car park was full and the road was jamming up with cars who had nowhere to go. at this time of year, the road is quiet. residents say that traffic jams will start as soon as the easter holidays do. they've even seen road rage incidents here among frustrated visitors. people coming out to argue and then you've got the traffic behind them arguing with them. because they're not moving. absolutely hectic. the cars are just flowing constantly. you've got them coming up and coming down at the same time. and this is the reason why newborough has become so congested — the number of visitors to the beach has increased in recent years. some people are asking if it's even becoming too popular. filming has been going on here.

you know, netflix are here in octoberfilming. you've got the sandman here in september blocking everything up. but the question that people here in newborough have been asking today is — what can be done about the traffic problems? a series of consultation meetings have been taking place to look at possible solutions. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website.

bringing you different stories from across the uk. ben bringing you different stories from across the uk.- from across the uk. ben and ruby have — from across the uk. ben and ruby have a _ from across the uk. ben and ruby have a special- ruby have a special relationship. he has been looking after her per 60 about that nearly changed last year. a car came round and clipped her near side and i kept riding and i was in the middle of the road on ruby and i had no idea she had an open deck. anything could have happened to her. despite being struck they are both 0k despite being struck they are both ok and have managed to ride out again since but for bennett made and reconsider where he takes her and when. you think could it happen again? it took the fun out of it for a while.— it for a while. this is something - it for a while. this is something many - it for a while. this is - something many writers are concerned about, emily runs a riding school in warwickshire, she says going out on the roads can be a challenge. b, she says going out on the roads can be a challenge.— can be a challenge. a lot of off-road — can be a challenge. a lot of off-road is _ can be a challenge. a lot of off-road is only _ can be a challenge. a lot of off-road is only accessible l can be a challenge. a lot of. off-road is only accessible by off—road is only accessible by main road, yes, there has been

instances over the years i feel fortunate that has not been any serious incident, when you are on young horses or us when we have clients we are taking out a can be dangerous. motorists and writers — a can be dangerous. motorists and writers been _ a can be dangerous. motorists and writers been asked - a can be dangerous. motorists and writers been asked to - and writers been asked to report incidents to be hs so they can try and keep the network safe. meanwhile in north staffordshire bean and ruby are hoping to put their near miss behind them. more stories from _ near miss behind them. more stories from the _ near miss behind them. more stories from the uk, - near miss behind them. more stories from the uk, head - near miss behind them. more stories from the uk, head to | stories from the uk, head to the bbc news website. hello and welcome to sports day. our top stories: all square at anfield, jurgen klopp and pep guardiola embrace a point. but that keeps arsenal top of the table. what any of those three would give for a io—point advantage. that's what leverkusen have with just nine bundesliga games. and melbourne revenge for iga swiatek at indian wells. she meets the player

who knocked her out of the australian open. it was a meeting of two rivals, either of which could have ended the day top of the premier league. and having struck a telling blow in the title race. but in the end, neither liverpool, nor manchester city could go above arsenal with their game finishing i—i at anfield in what was the final match between jurgen klopp and pep guardiola in the english league. ben croucher was there. when you look back at the history ofjurgen klopp and liverpool against manchester city, you will find games of my goals and more intensity and more and not —— animosity but this one perfectly sums up their rivalry. two great teams

and managers unable to be separated.