china condemns the meeting between taiwanese president and the us house speaker kevin mccarthy in california. find the us house speaker kevin mccarthy in california. and we sit down with _ mccarthy in california. and we sit down with the _ mccarthy in california. and we sit down with the head - mccarthy in california. and we sit down with the head of - mccarthy in california. and we sit down with the head of the l sit down with the head of the sri lankan airlines as the state carrier looks to privatise the burden on the economy. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm karishma vaswani. our top story is 90. china has a resolute response between a high—level meeting between the taiwanese president and house speaker

kevin mccarthy. a sports person for the chinese foreign ministry accused washington of colluding with taiwan especially over the heat sue of arms sales. mr mccarthy said us must strengthen economic situations with the island. whether it's our deep commercial ties, strong people to people relationships and shared values. our cooperation with the people of taiwan continue to expand through dialogue and exchange. mr mccarthy is the most senior us figurative meet with the time leader on us soil since 1979. despite the rhetoric, taiwanese plans to do big business with china and the united states. china and the united states. china is taiwan's largest trading partner. ispoke earlier and got an explosion about the complicated ties

between the two.- between the two. china is usually important - between the two. china is usually important for - between the two. china is usually important for all l usually important for all engine economies including taiwan. what puts taiwan is in a unique position is because it's independent on a unique country and one that sees us parts of its... as a renegade province of china and its continuing to look for unification with taiwan. and that puts taiwan is that difficult situation because on the one hand it wants to continue its chinese business ties but at the same time it has a existential threat with his trading partner. that existential _ his trading partner. that existential threat - his trading partner. that existential threat has i his trading partner. that i existential threat has seen taiwan, and tsa ing—wen try to wean its dependence on china. the government trying to lessen their manufacturing in chinese ones. �* , their manufacturing in chinese ones. i ., ~ their manufacturing in chinese ones. 2 ., ~ ., ., ones. it's working to a limited extent. what _ ones. it's working to a limited extent. what taiwan - ones. it's working to a limited extent. what taiwan is - ones. it's working to a limited extent. what taiwan is trying | extent. what taiwan is trying to do is reach out to other areas. they have what what is

called a southbound policy. they're looking to invest more in southeast asia and of course they are looking to invest more in the united states. bear in mind that taiwan is critical to the global technology industries. it is the biggest manufacturer of advanced semiconductors. it is investing in the united states and japan and potentially also in europe to ensure that it can continue to ensure that it can continue to be that producer of semiconductors to the world. i semiconductors to the world. i know this is asking you to speculate a bit so i apologise in advance for that to stop what happens if tensions do escalate between china and taiwan, if things get really bad and we see a possible invasion, perhaps? i know when speaking to tiny weenies firms this is part of their contingency planning as he looked in the future. taiwanese.—

looked in the future. taiwanese. , taiwanese. of course the meeting _ taiwanese. of course the meeting happening - taiwanese. of course the meeting happening in - taiwanese. of course the - meeting happening in california today as well as the nancy pelosi visit to taiwan last summer, these are efforts to actually avoid confrontation between taiwan and china. to say that the united states is going to be coming to the defence of taiwan, should china take action. some would argue this is not necessarily going to be an effective way to keep china away from taiwan and it actually is deliberately provoking the tiger in the eyes so to speak. others would argue is that effective deterrent mechanism. forthe is that effective deterrent mechanism. for the business community, what is happening is there are contingency plans in place and a big taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, is manufacturing, is planning to manufacture more in the united states and other countries, but we also see that there are efforts for taiwan itself to be

more resilient and also to diversify its own industrial base as well. one thing i want to point out is that taiwan has great feet and what it because a silicone shield. because so many countries are dependent on importing taiwanese at semiconductors, that that gives taiwan protection and that gives taiwan the defence of other countries coming to its defence should there be an invasion from china.- defence should there be an invasion from china. thank you. the taiwanese _ invasion from china. thank you. the taiwanese leader _ invasion from china. thank you. the taiwanese leader isn't - invasion from china. thank you. the taiwanese leader isn't the l the taiwanese leader isn't the only one travelling. the french president emmanuel macron arrived in the chinese capital on wednesday accompanied by an entourage of business leaders. in his speech, mr michael owen called on europe to assist with trade with china. he and ursula von der leyen is expected to meet with the chinese leader on

thursday. wall street closed lower after signs that the labour market was listening. the tech heavy nasdaq fell for a third straight losing section after the latest private payroll supports shows slowing job growth investment. for months now, _ job growth investment. for months now, wall - job growth investment. fr?" months now, wall street has been taking good news about strength about the job market is a bad sign. that is because a tight market means more inflation and means to the fed has to keep raising rates. good news about the economy, high employment has been bad news for the stock market. for better or worse, that relationship seems to be changing. bad news about the job market, is once more proving bad news for the stock market. on wednesday, there was data aboutjobs in the us that showed companies are creating fewerjobs than were expecting. this came after a report on

tuesday showing the number of job openings was in the client. to be clear, the us still enjoys historically low levels of unemployment. drawsjobs enjoys historically low levels of unemployment. draws jobs are plentiful but those weaker than expected reports have led to worries that a recession may be on the horizon and to stock market some loss. so, bad news is bad again. we'll see if that relationship holds on friday when the full monthly employment report is released. in other business news, switzerland has ordered the bonuses of top credit suites executives to be cut following the merger with ubs. 1000 the merger with ubs.1000 employees will be affected and the combined bonuses have a total of over 50 miles $1 million. the travel industry was hit during the pandemic and add at pandemic and carriers are no exploring privatisations

and plans. to ease the burden on colombo, we call on the chief executive of the should link an airline.— link an airline. there is a lot of energy — link an airline. there is a lot of energy around _ link an airline. there is a lot i of energy around privatisation. before we going to privatisation we need to restructure the old that's our own. in runabout numbers will make $1 billion earlier, $1 billion in debt, some of it local and some of it to creditors and we're paying 100 million on servicing. if we can restructure that that a large part of what we pay in interest comes back and can be used to run the airline and it means an outside investor can come in and basically not prayer for the sins of the past. i think the sins of the past. i think the first lesson for me is don't ever go and be a ceo in corporate, after coving and then you cannot deal with the few days. i think one of the

difficult things we learn is that we are really lousy at forecasting. everyone thought colby would last three weeks than a month's then a year and thenitin than a month's then a year and then it in two years and in some markets it was three years. i think what is actually done is historically in this business you use to plan for the year ahead and say we will have 10% growth, a bit of competitive there, where is a new market that fits in with the scheme of things and we would do things organically. i think what this option is we have all had to challenge ourselves and be much more agile and, at the moment, we have a long—term view of where we think the airline should be and what the root network should look like but we look every week and we look at every site, and we look at what it's delivering per hour and where we can best put our assets. if this market is working on this 1's not, we will not assert who loves but we will switch capacity but move a little bit more here and at the less they

are. it is a intercity with low margins and is is very competitive. if you are number one and a market you can make money. if you are number two, maybe you break even. if your number three, forget it. so you really signal what is your usp and where can you dominate and build their that and the rest of it is filler traffic. if you look at sri lanka, the stuff we can always be number one and number two is that sure lincoln ds moura, tourism to sri lanka, and connecting travel traffic from secondary asian cities particularly east. west, we are competing with big middle eastern hubs that have cost advantages we can compete with. those are the three things for us. if it doesn't matter as an airline, who can you be number 1a, and that's what your country is on. 14, and that's what your country is on.— 14, and that's what your country is on. 14, and that's what your count is on. . ,., country is on. ritual nutso the ceo of sri _ country is on. ritual nutso the ceo of sri lanka _ country is on. ritual nutso the

ceo of sri lanka airlines. - country is on. ritual nutso the ceo of sri lanka airlines. that brings us to the end of the asia business report at this hour. thank you for staying with us, do stay with bbc news for the latest headlines and analysis. the latest way to improve safety for people partying in bath. the safe bus will be parked up every friday and saturday night outside bath abby. at the end of the bus we have this private area which is for people to come if they need their own private space. need private medical treatment. then we've got a kitchen. this is kind of like the kitchen area and we have everything in it you probably need if you wanted to keep warm and have a nice drink, tea coffee or anything else. under here we have sick bowls, emergency blankets, flip—flops, which i've been told by the night passengers are really popular.

spare clothing and phone chargers. there will always be a paramedic and a security marshall and a team of volunteers for people who need first aid or need the paramedic and that support. pressure on emergency services is known to be higher at weekends. if you can deal with the situation on the ground where it's happened then people don't have to take themselves up to a&e. that idea has been proven elsewhere and venues throughout bath have asked for their own bus. vulnerable, tipsy or maybe even lost. this bus is one that will have a seat for you. hiya. i'm jonelle with the catch up. britain's human rights watchdog have recommended that sex means biological sex rather than legal sex. this means people who have changed their legal sex on birth and marriage documents

would no longer be legally classed as such, and trans people could be excluded from areas that they identify with. you've probably heard the hype about the £2 shein nails, but did you know about the manchester based nail designer yan tee, who was shocked to see her designs being sold on their site? bonnie has more. yan tee is a 28—year—old manchester based nail designer. she has 80,000 followers on instagram, but she's accusing the chinese owned fast fashion company shein of stealing two of her designs from her instagram and selling them as press on nails. shein has got in touch with newsweek, and they've said that they take all claims of infringement seriously. the world's favourite doll has come alive in the new barbie live action film, and a teaser was released earlier this week showcasing sand, sweets and a star studded line—up, including some talented brits dua lipa,

nicola coughlan, emma mackey and ncuti gatwa. time now to leave you with 10 seconds of submergence. scientists have filmed a snail fish swimming at an extraordinary depth, making it the deepest observation of nature that has ever been made. and with that, you're all caught up. have a good night.

hello, i'm gavin ramjaun — with your update from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme. the race for the premier league top four hots up — as manchester united beat brentford — but stay behind newcastle — who thrash west ham — and pile the pressure of manager david moyes an emphatic el classico in the copa del rey — karim benzema's hat—trick does the damage for real madrid, to knock out barcelona. and on the eve of one of golf�*s biggest tournaments — we'll be at augusta — to preview who will marvel at the masters this year? thanks forjoining us on the programme. lots to get through — but we start with football. on a busy night of

action around europe. in the premier league — there's been two huge matches —