falsifying business records. sarah smith has the story. china condemns the meeting between cowan�*s president tsai ing—wen and the us house speaker kevin mccarthy in california. and we sit down with the head of sri lankan�*s airlines as they look to privatise to ease the burden on colombo. —— taiwan's president. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm karishma vaswani. ourtop business report, i'm karishma vaswani. our top story for you this morning, china has vowed a resolute response following a high level meeting between the taiwanese president tsai ing—wen and us house speaker

kevin mccarthy in california. and an early—morning statement the spokesperson for the chinese ministry accused washington of colluding with taiwan especially over the issue of arms sales. earlier mr mccarthy said they must strengthen economic cooperation with the island that china has claimed as its own.— claimed as its own. whether it's out deep _ claimed as its own. whether it's out deep commercial - claimed as its own. whether. it's out deep commercial ties, strong people to people relationships or shared values, our cooperation with the people of taiwan continue to expand through dialogue and exchange. mr mccarthy is the most senior us figure to meet with a taiwanese leader on american soil since 1979, taiwanese leader on american soilsince 1979, despite taiwanese leader on american soil since 1979, despite the rhetoric, though, taiwanese firms do big business with both china and the united states in fact china is taiwan's largest trading partner. earlieri spoke with the director of geoeconomics from the wilson centre and she explained how china us tension could affect

taiwanese businesses. the mccarthy — taiwanese businesses. the mccarthy meeting - taiwanese businesses. tue: mccarthy meeting that taiwanese businesses. tte: mccarthy meeting that has happened 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. somewhat argue that this is not necessarily going to be an effective way to keep china away from taiwan and it's actually deliberately provoking the tiger so to speak but others would argue that this is actually a very effective deterrence mechanism. for the business community, what is happening is there are a contingency plans already and place. of course a big taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer is manufacturing more in the united states and other countries as well 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 do want to point out is that taiwan does have great faith in what it calls the silicon shield, because so many countries are dependent on importing taiwanese semiconductor is, that it gives taiwan protection and that gives taiwan the defence of other countries coming to its defence should there be an invasion by china. the taiwanese leader isn't the only one travelling. french president emmanuel macron arrived in the chinese capital on wednesday accompanied by an entourage of business leaders.

my entourage of business leaders. my colleague has been monitoring the story for us. it is always great to get you on the programme. what is on the agenda today?— agenda today? today is the big da when agenda today? today is the big day when president _ agenda today? today is the big day when president macron - agenda today? today is the big day when president macron is i day when president macron is expected to meet with the chinese president xijinping expected to meet with the chinese president xi jinping as well as his new premier and yesterday around 3pm local time he arrived and first met with french residents in the capital raising but he also spoke about how the west shouldn't try and reduce diplomatic and economic ties with china, especially because of the rather crucial role that china plays in the war in ukraine and so basically what he is hoping to do is to persuade china to ask rush of course, it's ally, to try and bring peace in ukraine. i think it is fair to say that not many experts are expect a big breakthrough there but it is a very tricky balancing act for the french president because he also wants to push for closer trade and investment ties with china and he has been trying to

push for this accord to boost investment ties between the two and of course he is travelling, as you said, with many business leaders for whom china is a huge market and according to the chinese ambassador to france, we can expect some deals in aerospace, nuclear energy, so for example the boss of air bus is expected to be there as well and especially for french president macron, who has been facing those rather embarrassing protests at home, he definitely wants to score those economic victories, a very tricky balancing act for him. t a very tricky balancing act for him. ~' ., a very tricky balancing act for him. ~ ., , ., , him. i know you will be keeping us un-to-date _ him. i know you will be keeping us up-to-date with _ him. i know you will be keeping us up-to-date with that - him. i know you will be keeping us up-to-date with that visit. us up—to—date with that visit on bbc news but away from state visits, let's take you to wall street because it closed pretty mixed amid growing signs that the us labour market is loosening. the tech heavy nasdaq falling for a third straight losing session. that is after the latest private

payrolls report showed a slowing job growth last month. for months now wall street has been taking good news about the strength of the job market as a bad sign. that's because a super tight labour market generally means more inflation which means the fed has to keep raising rates, so good news about the economy, high employment as being bad news for the stock market. for better or for worse that relationship seems to be changing. bad news about the job market is once more proving to be bad news for the stock market. on wednesday there was data aboutjobs in the us that showed that companies are creating fewer jobs than showed that companies are creating fewerjobs than expect that. this came after a report on tuesday showing the number ofjob openings was in decline. to be clear the us still enjoys historically low levels of unemployment. jobs are plentiful but both of those weaker than expect did reports

have led to worries that a recession may be on the horizon and to stock market selloffs. so bad news is bad again. we will see if that relationship holds on friday when the full monthly employment report is released. ., ., ,, released. samaria hussein reporting _ released. samaria hussein reporting on _ released. samaria hussein reporting on that - released. samaria hussein reporting on that story - released. samaria hussein reporting on that story for| released. samaria hussein i reporting on that story for us. switzerland has ordered the bonuses of top executives of credit suites to be cut following the forced merger with ubs. 1000 employees will be affect it and the combined bonuses have a value of over $55 million. the air travel industry was one of the hardest hit during the pandemic but add that to an economic crisis and that to an economic crisis and thatis that to an economic crisis and that is the situation sri lankan airlines found itself in. the carrier is now exploring privatisation plans to ease the burden on columbo. we caught up with the chief executive at the airline. there is a lot of— executive at the airline. there is a lot of energy _ executive at the airline. there is a lot of energy around - is a lot of energy around privatising. the first thing we need to do if we are going to

privatise is we need to restructure the old debts that are out there. so in round numbers we make $1 billion of revenue a year, we have $1 billion of debt, some of it in dollars, some of it local, some of it owed to different creditors and we are paying 100 million on servicing at. so if we can structure that debt, a large part of what we are paying in interest comes back and can be used to run the airline and it means an outside investor can come in and basically not pay for the sins of the past. i think the first lesson for me is don't ever go and be a ceo after covid, then you can come for the upswing and not deal through the difficult days. i think one of the things we have learned is we are really lousy at forecasting. everybody thought covid was going to last three weeks, then three months, then a year, then three years, then it was three years. so i think

what it has actually done is, historically in this business you used to plan for the year ahead and say we will have 10% growth, add a bit of capacity there, where as a new market that fits in with the scheme of things and we will do things organically. i think what has happened as we have all had to challenge ourselves and we have had to be much more agile and so at the moment we have a long—term view on where we think the airline should be and what the network should look at, but actually we look every week at every flight and what is it delivering, and where can we best put our assets and of this market is working and this one is not, we will not necessarily pull out but we will switch capacity and move a little bit more hair and a little bit more hair and a little bit more hair and a little bit less there. it is an industry with low margins and it's very competitive. if you are number one in market, you can make money. if you are number two my maybe you can

break even stop if you are number three, forget it. so you really need to know what is your usp and what can you dominate and build around that and the rest of it may be is filler traffic. and the rest of it may be is fillertraffic. if and the rest of it may be is filler traffic. if you look at sri lanka, the things that we can always be number one on number two on is the sri lankan diaspora, tourism to sri lanka, and connecting traffic from secondary indian cities going particularly east. west we are competing with big middle eastern hubs that have cost advantages we can't compete with so these are the three things for us. but it doesn't matter who you are as an airline, who can you be number one or and that is what you should concentrate on. that was richard speaking _ should concentrate on. that was richard speaking to _ should concentrate on. that was richard speaking to the - should concentrate on. that was richard speaking to the bbc- should concentrate on. that was richard speaking to the bbc a i richard speaking to the bbc a little earlier. lot more as always on asia business report on the bbc website in the business section but for now that's it from us, for me and

the team, thank you for watching. do stay with bbc news for all the latest global headlines and analysis and i will be back with you and about one hour's time. the latest way to improve safety for people out partying in bath, the safebus will be parked up every friday and saturday night outside bath abbey. fist saturday night outside bath abbe . �* ., , , abbey. at the end of the bus we have this private _ abbey. at the end of the bus we have this private area _ abbey. at the end of the bus we have this private area and - abbey. at the end of the bus we have this private area and this i have this private area and this is obviously for people to come if they need their own private space, need some private medical treat on.- space, need some private medical treat on. and then ou've medical treat on. and then you've got _ medical treat on. and then you've got a _ medical treat on. and then you've got a cat _ medical treat on. and then you've got a cat out - medical treat on. and then l you've got a cat out kitchen. with got everything that you would probably need if you wanted to keep warm and have a nice drink, tea, coffee facilities, water. underneath here we've got six poles, emergency blankets, flip—flops,

which i've been told by the night pastors are really popular. spare clothing, phone charges, there will always be a paramedic, there will be a security marshal in the city with our night marshals and thenit with our night marshals and then it will be a team of volunteers, people who need first aid, neither paramedic and that support.— first aid, neither paramedic and that support. pressure on emergency — and that support. pressure on emergency services _ and that support. pressure on emergency services is - and that support. pressure on emergency services is known | and that support. pressure on i emergency services is known to be higher at weekends. tt emergency services is known to be higher at weekends.- be higher at weekends. if you can deal with _ be higher at weekends. if you can deal with the _ be higher at weekends. if you can deal with the situation . be higher at weekends. if you can deal with the situation on j can deal with the situation on the ground where it's happened then people don't have to take themselves up to a&e. the then people don't have to take themselves up to me. the idea has orally been _ themselves up to me. the idea has orally been proven - has orally been proven elsewhere and venues throughout bath had asked for their own bus. vulnerable, tipsy or maybe even lost, this bus is one that will always have a seat for you. i'm janelle with the catch up. britain's human rights watchdog have recommended that sex means

biological sex rather than legal sex. this means that people who have changed their legal everyone 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 male designer who was shocked to see her designs being sold on their site. bonnie has more. she her designs being sold on their site. bonnie has more.- her designs being sold on their site. bonnie has more. she is a 28-year-old — site. bonnie has more. she is a 28-year-old male _ site. bonnie has more. she is a 28-year-old male designer, . 28—year—old male designer, she's accusing the chinese owned fashion company shein of stealing her designs. shein have said they take all claims of infringement seriously stopping the well�*s favourite dog has come alive in the new barbie live—action film and a teaser was released earlier

this week featuring a star—studded lineup including some talented brits, do a leaper, nicole:, and emma mackie. ., ., ., leaper, nicole:, and emma mackie. ., ., . , ., mackie. time now to leave you with ten _ mackie. time now to leave you with ten seconds _ mackie. time now to leave you with ten _ mackie. time now to leave you with ten seconds of— with ten seconds of submergence. scientists have filmed a snailfish submergence. scientists have filmed a snail fish swimming at an extraordinary depth making it the deepest observation of nature that has ever been and with that you are 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? hello and thanks for joining us, here's your latest sports news.

thanks forjoining us on the programme.