the us treasury secretary kicks off her visit to beijing. on the agenda: easing ties between the world's two largest economies. and after blistering post covid rebound the chinese economy now shown is signs of slowing. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. our top story this morning — us treasury secretary janet yellen has kicked off her visit to the chinese capital. she will be meeting the former trades are and premier later today. her trip comes at a time when beijing is ramping up the heat on relations. earlier i spoke to the wilson centre and got to take on the

messaging from beijing. it clearly signals that china is prepared to push back against any action that would be taken by the united states. it is hardly the rolling out the red carpet but i do want to point out that the value in this dialogue is that the two countries are actually meeting and that we will see more continued dialogue from the two sides. �* ., , , ~' continued dialogue from the two sides. ., i, ~ continued dialogue from the two sides. �* ., , , ~ , sides. anthony blinker was 'ust there last month i sides. anthony blinker was 'ust there last month and it i sides. anthony blinker was just there last month and it cannot| there last month and it cannot be a bad thing that they are now talking about. despite the tensions, trade has been growing so they both need each other. . . , growing so they both need each other. . ., , ., , other. china really does need the united — other. china really does need the united states _ other. china really does need the united states a _ other. china really does need the united states a lot - other. china really does need the united states a lot more | the united states a lot more than the united states at this particular moment in time. we see that china has come out of the covid shutdown significantly weaker than it has in the past and at the same

time it is introducing many measures to defend its own economy which is scaring off foreign investors as well. so anything to ensure that there is continued investment in the country, to ensure that its own economy does not falter any further is something that beijing will want to pursue. and i guess the united states would like to talk about what they can discuss in what they can achieve. what other areas would secretary alan be discussing do you think? the baseline as _ discussing do you think? the baseline as this, _ discussing do you think? iie: baseline as this, both china and the united states want to avoid a military conflict and they are both interested in ensuring that the two economies, both respective economies, both respective economies can grow. at the same time the united states will try to convince china that putting

barriers towards technology transfer and protecting its own advanced technologies is not an act but that will be something that the chinese find it very difficult to swallow. figs that the chinese find it very difficult to swallow.- difficult to swallow. as she mentioned, _ difficult to swallow. as she mentioned, the _ difficult to swallow. as she mentioned, the visit - difficult to swallow. as she | mentioned, the visit comes difficult to swallow. as she i mentioned, the visit comes at difficult to swallow. as she - mentioned, the visit comes at a time when china is looking to revitalise its economy. it experienced a post covid rebound in the first quarter of this year and for the latest data it shows signs of slowing. street food seen in china appears to show an economy rebounding strongly from the coronavirus. experts say that is not the case. but, rather, these consumers in the small city are choosing a low—cost tasting option at a time of pressure on household income. translation:— great for ordinary people. it has been hard to make money but it is still easy to spend.

after three years of covid the economy is only slowly recovering. university graduates have been especially hit by the doldrums with youth unemployment hovering at or above 2096. translation: am worried. there is a lot of competition and it is hard to find a job. all my classmates feel the same pressure. who have jobs can be reluctant to spend big because they are nervous about financial security. you can see why if you travel just a bit further east to the outskirts of a much larger city where a property explosion has not matched real demand from buyers or renters. this woman bought a flat here a couple of years ago but the estate remains largely empty and its value has collapsed. translation: of course i am

worried but what can i do? - everywhere there are shells of tower blocks that appear abandoned. this problem with real estate supply and demand is not limited to this area. it is not even limited to this city. you can drive out of here for hours and find clusters of towers with unoccupied or unfinished apartments stop many where work has stopped altogether and considered that the same thing is happening in province after province across the country. restrictions now on the number of flats a person can buy have been eased in an attempt to stimulate the market. although the real estate agent told us sales volumes have halved in recent years. translation: down because the market is saturated. too many homes were built and it is hard to sell them. . , , also keep spreading to the sprawling local court and there for the world. reduced

manufacturing and weak international demand means less stuff being exported and slower consumption here means less imports from other countries. just up the coast, while tourism has started to recover on the beaches, the government wants chinese people to spend more than the price of swimming here. but the fear is that pessimism is setting in and it can be hard to turn around. stephen mcdonnell, bbc news. in other news making headlines this morning, samsung electronics has reported a likely 96% fall in its second—quarter operating profit. that is in line with what analysts and have been expecting making at the lowest in any quarter for 14 years. they are wriggling to stem losses since a global chip glut that are seen prices fall. they will publish at the end of the

ninth month the full report. ups is expected to move 6% of the us gdp every single day. more than 300,000 ups workers have vowed to go on strike after the company failed to reach an agreement with its union. if they do walk out it will be one of the biggest strikes in american history. michelle fleury has more. making some noise. ups workers in new york preparing to strike after both sides accuse the other of walking away from the negotiating table. among those getting ready, marvin dawes, a full—time driver for ten years. everybody here has frustration that keeps on building up. it is likely to keep boiling. he says every worker deserves more. we want fairness in terms of a fair days pay for a fair da 's work. . , , ., that represents roughly 340,000 ups workers across the country

want higher pay, especially for part-time workers.— picket practice. as you can see, straight preparations are shifting into high gear. the union wants to ramp up the pressure on ups to meet its demands. anthony is one of the organisers, a former ups driver who was part of the last strike in 1997 that cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars. for him this is not just a fight for higher wages at ups. we want to win big for our workers but for all the other workers who do not have a union. amazon workers were being exploited, workers from walmart and target, megacorporations that are throwing jobs not giving them good benefits, not giving proper salary. we are fighting for all of them. ups is the - biggest shipping company in the us. drivers deliver more than

20 million packages every single day so the economic impact could be significant. a halt in operations could lead to shipping delays or cause major disruptions to us supply chains. in brooklyn, margaret, the founder of a snack company, depends on ups to receive supplies and ship granola to customers. this will hurt a lot of businesses. will you have to raise your prices? yes. that is not something i want to do. ups says it wants to reach a timely agreement for employees and the economy. this was the ceo speaking to investors back in april. we expect to hear a great deal of noise through the negotiation but i remain confident that a win—win contract is very achievable. loud and proud. with the end of the contract

rapidly approaching, workers are getting ready to walk out if an agreement cannot be reached. michelle fleury, bbc news, new york. iam sure i am sure you have heard a lot about threads which has been dubbed a possible twitter killer but apparently twitter is considering legal action over this new app. a letter from a twitter attorney sent to the boss of matter accused the company of unlawful misappropriation of twitter trade secrets. threads launched on thursday and has garnered almost 30 million signups in the last 2a hours. it was seen as a major rival as the platform tries to boost its falling revenue. that is it for the programme, thank you very much for watching.

bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. the visitor centre _ stories from across the uk. the visitor centre that _ stories from across the uk. the visitor centre that sits on the summit of this welsh mountain has been closed since the autumn of 2019. first due to covid and then a massive project to rebuild the rail track to the top. but now the trains are back and that means it can reopen for business. when we first came up here the building was mouldy and it has been closed, no air ventilation for three years to the building so it was a massive job getting professional cleaners in and get the building nice and clean. the generators, we needed during brand—new generators and engineers have been working hard to get power. for trains and visitors could return the snowdon mountain railway has had to replace 1000 metres of track to the summit, a project that is cost over £1 million. without the train this

place could not reopen. everything in the building relies on its supplies. but on a day such as today when it is wet and windy there is a sense of relief from those arriving. the railway says it had a bumper summer and reopening the visitor centre will attract even more. especially for those who prefer to let the train take the strain. i am rachel with the catch up. tonight, greta is charged, a twitter rival is launched and a big apology. first, we start in liverpool where 23—year—old connor chapman has been found guilty of murdering ellie edwards. the 26—year—old ellie enjoying a night out with friends when she was shot outside a pub on christmas eve. she was not the target, chapman was looking for two gang members. another man was found guilty of owning an illegal gun

and helping chapman. ellie's father spoke outside the court. we got there in the end. you know what? i hope they never see another christmas in their lives. some other stories now. greta thunberg has been charged with disobeying police during a protest blockading oil tankers injune. she will be in court this month and could face a six—month prison sentence or a fine. are you on threads? the makers of instagram have launched a rival to twitter and millions have already signed up. it has been granted the twitter killer and they look alike. there is a 500 character limit on this one and you login through insta. and the tourist who carved his and his girlfriend's name into the coliseum has sent an apology letter to the mayor of rome. the 27—year—old said he did not realise how old the building was when he did it.

last up, ten seconds of okapis. they are rare and usually only found in central africa but this okapi was born at chester zoo. her keepers say she shows a lot of personality already. you are all caught up now. see you.