figures show that the number of south korean companies in qingdao dropped 20% in 2013. many restaurants have had to close. >> translator: there are fewer factories, and those that are left are smaller midsized businesses. in last two or three years, our sales have dropped by half. >> reporter: if the two countries do sign a free trade agreement, duties will be eliminated in many areas. officials hope this will lead to a rebound in south korean investment, since they still have a large korean speaking population. this professor believes an agreement will also have an important strategic value. >> translator: if there is progress toward a free trade agreement between china and south korea, it will strengthen the ftas china has with asean countries. this will be an asset in the future, as a counterbalance to the trans-pacific partnership between the u.s. and japan. >> and people in japan are feeling the effects of a recent tax hike. ron madison joins me with the results of the latest survey. ron? >> officials have been watching very closely for any negative impact from tha

approval to build two more plants in china and expand current production at their other location in qingdaoill allow them to invest in china's security markets. >>> british foreign secretary william hague and chancellor george osborne start a two-day trip to india, the first since may. >>> after leaving the soviet block in the 1990s, they shifted from their production of weapons to become the biggest automotive maker in the world. they see that trajectory continuing. >> this is one of the fastest growing countries in the eurozone and it was in the crazy era and now it is the biggest according to domestic and foreign cars. our economy will accelerate by 3% this year and next year it will also be better. >> i hate talking about poster boys as far as the eurozone is concerned, but they are resilient during the financial crisis. and i wonder how the situation in ukraine and russia is impacting confidence in the business environment there. >> definitely. we need to separate the two, really. buzz what is the growth story that continuing quite substantially compared to elsewhere in europe through