the chinese premier hopes that use largest economy germany. a time when its own economy is slowing down. and the paris airshow takes off at the historic border as the event makes its first appearance after the covid—19 pandemic. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm monica miller. we begin in germany where chinese premier has kicked off his first official trip abroad. mr li is on a two nation visit and it comes at a time when beijing is looking to expand relations with european unions largest economy. it also comes as china's economic as china's economic is slowing down.

sluggish exports and waning demand had been weighing on the economy. earlier i spoke with a former us diplomat who explained the balancing act germany has to trade with china. i think germany is trying to do what it can to enhance the economic relationship while still respecting the important political alliance with the united states of course the crux of this is ukraine, where both germany and the united states support ukraine at pushing back russia and china is on the other side of that with a warm embrace of putin. what challenges will both countries face moving forward economically? there is a question for germany about dependency or concentration risk. remember as a lead up to ukraine germany continue to build its economic relationship with russia and ended up in a vulnerable position in regard to energy supplies. i think there is some sense it's germany

might want to repeat that with china or not. at the same time they have a business obligation to do what they can to build sales build economic with china. the gap somewhat impulses there and i think the short run the commercial impulse will govern and they want to sell more into that market. you've been an ambassador, you've been in this meeting rooms, what kind of conversations at issue having, particularly when it comes about china's growing relationship with russia? you put yourfinger on it. i think it generally is a positive relationship. in general germany welcomes the business. i think that's all good news. but boy, are they concerned about what china is doing to interfere in russia, promoting roger's interest. ——russia's interest it is not in germany's best interests, i think they will be very direct in china making those views known to beijing. mr li's visit came as us secretary of state antony blinken met with china's president in beijing. both sides agreed to stabilise their rivalry to prevent conflict but beijing refused

washington's request to resume military to military communication citing american sanctions as an obstacle. still president saying progress has been made in his us counterpart joe biden also said relations are now on the right trail. so—called crypto currency entrepreneur do kwon has been sentenced to four months of prison in montenegro after he was found to be using forged passports. the south korean is the former head of terra formed labs, the company behind the stable corn which collapsed last year. south korea in the us are seeking is just relate to the mad extradition. meanwhile it low—cost carrier indigo has made in order of 500 planes from airbus. that's the largest ever single purchase agreement by any airline in commercial aviation history. my colleague explains what the deal says about the countries aviation market. this mammoth order really reflects india's emergence

as the nice growth frontier for the aerospace analyst say. the announcement has come close on the heels of a deal for 250 aircraft with airbus just in february this year. the frenzied purchases are happening as india sees a robust expand in recovering airline travel with a significant increase in the number of first—time flyers. and lowcost carriers like indigo and have a long runway for growth. under 5% of the countries 1.4 billion people are estimated to ever taking a flight but more and more of them will as disposable incomes and what's now the worlds most populous country rise, however demand is expected to be robust in the next few years it's the speed of the deliveries of the new aircraft that analysts are worried about, given that supplied change challenges faced by manufacturers and engine makers during covid haven't exactly gone away yet. and that could constrain delivery schedules in the future.

this is also the first time the show has returned after the covid—19 pandemic hit the industry. the trade fair is a major opportunity for manufacturers and also china but interestingly, it did not display its first home—grown mediaum hall passengerjet the seat 919. the aircraft was built to compete with airbus and boeing, both widely used in global aviation for i spoke with aviation analysts who explain how china's planes compete against its rivals. china has been pushing into this space very gradually over the last couple of decades, initially with the air] 21 regionaljet. this is not exactly a new area for china. however, it's slowly been making inroads. it's not really considered yet in orders by indigo or other campaigns by airlines globally but over time perhaps we will see some consideration of the chinese aircraft,

particularly as delivery slots at airbus and boeing quickly develop given the frenzied orders now. do you think they might be able to wedge in there and meet the competition say a couple of decades from now? definitely not a near—term thing. it's a slow long road to push your way into airbus and boeing have had for many years. in the initial phases we will probably see orders from the cherries two chinese barriers. —— western manufacturers. but obviously a little bit more difficult given the geopolitical up is hard to predict exactly where that will go. in a couple of decades i think it would be safe to say that they should have more of a footprint globally in the near term, not so much but may be some smaller airlines in regions like africa who will have trouble getting

into the airbus and boeing production lines to get slots that you're more likely to see smaller deals in those regions. how smaller deals in those regions. are these global ch going how are these global changes going to impact its productivity moving forward? 50 productivity moving forward? so far productivity moving forward? sr far we haven't seen any impact on that. they do use a lot of western suppliers, they have the same engines as a seven max and hb 20 or similar engines, the same engine for the so far there hasn't been issues with that i think the commercial product and hopefully there won't be any impact there but we don't really know exactly where this geopolitical environment will go. i don't think that will be the impact really the chinese have to overcome other issues selling these aircraft also to western airlines. there is a bit of resistant amongst the larger

airlines to even consider chinese aircraft. they had to create some kind of support network globally as well. there's a lot of challenges, not just this there's a lot of challenges, notjust this one. the paris airshow comes as top figures in the world of artificial intelligence have recently warned that if not properly managed the technology could impact mankind. 0ur reporter theo leggett met up with one of the worlds largest events contractors and asked if those concerns are justified. i think the concern is justified but i would make the argument that you have to think ai is one of those things that creates this big bucket that everyone puts their thoughts into and i would make the argument that we've been using ai for years. it's really the discussion about, are you turning over decisions to in autonomous programme? decisions to an autonomous programme? or are you really building in and using ai words appropriately? there algorithms today that will help you to sort

through reams of information very quickly. that's different than a decision being made by a leader, a soldier, an air man on how to use a platform or use a capability. where is that enhancements all? ——stop are you going to get to a stage where for example a decision on whether to attack a particular target is taken by a computer rather than a human being? just because there is technologies out there doesn't necessarily mean that it's appropriate in every case. what i want to spend time on and what we have great talent working is what is the range of those capabilities, how can we demonstrate those to the war fighters? and then find out how they want us to apply those to our systems. again, that's a wide range of capabilities. but your basic premise, i absolutely agree, you are going to continue to see the growth of ai and you're going to continue to see businesses like ours look to meet our customers

needs by looking at how to employ them. bill simmons made the comments on his own podcast. the team up which was first announced in late 2020 have resulted injust one 12 episode series at the time the deal was widely reported to be worth around $20 million. before we go, let's take a quick look of how markets are doing here in asia. japan's open lower this morning, that is a retreat from its 33 year high for the investors are closely watching china's loan prime rate decision which is due out in the next hour. that is all we have for you on asia business report. thank you for watching. bbc news bringing you different

stories from across the uk. boat trips have been run in shrewsbury by elwynjones for 13 years, but he says a combination of winter flooding, currents, low water levels and silt are causing problems. if we fail to manage or maintain this river, it will get harder and harder to navigate. so it's getting shallower because of the salts coming here and there's a lot more vegetation there. so our navigation is becoming more and more difficult in frankwell swimmers from organised groups are supporting an application for bathing water status. it's supported by the town council and led by experienced swim guide and beach lifeguard alison biddulph, mostly because that requires that the environment agency test it. severn trent water told us all sectors needed to work together to improve the river, adding... for more stories from across the uk head to

the bbc news website. hey, i'm steven with the catch up. tonight, jingle and mingle, flying phones and a snaky suspect. first — police across england and wales have been told to ramp up the use of stop and search. that's where officers can stop someone if they suspect them, of carrying things like drugs or a knife. government stats show people from ethnic minorities are more likely to be stopped and searched. the minister in charge of policing, suella braverman, reckons it's a vital tool that will save lives. but some campaigners aren't convinced. young black boys who are disproportionately targeted by these tactics report how the immense pain and trauma that it inflicts on them emotionally and mentally. some other stories now,

and you might have seen this video over the weekend of conservative party activists dancing and drinking in christmas 2020. breaking lockdown rules at the time. while the bbc has seen the invite for the jingle and mingle event. 30 people were invited. a submarine that takes people to view the titanic wreckage has gone missing. it's not clear how many people were on board. a massive search is under way off the coast of canada, off the coast of canada. next to a bebe rexha gig in new york during her show a fan through a phone from the crowd which hit her in the face, bebe�*s posted this tik tok showing her injuries. a man has been arrested. and time to leave you with 10 seconds of a slithery surprise. this is the moment police in birmingham spotted a snake in the middle of a busy road. they say they took the slippery customer to a local reptile centre. fair play to them. i think i'd run a mile. you're all caught up. have a great night.

hello, i'm sarah, mulkerrins from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme... it's a hat trick for saka as the arsenal star sends england on the way to a seven goal win over north macedonia.

the european championship qualifying.