hearing, has held what the us calls candid and constructive talks with china s foreign minister in beijing. this at the start of two days of meetings with chinese officials. mr blinken emphasised the need for diplomacy and keeping open channels of communication us officials added. the trip to china is the first by a top us diplomat in almost five years and comes months after an earlier visit by the secretary of state was postponed when a suspected chinese spy balloon flew in us airspace. can this trip reboot relations? to discuss this and what s at stake for the world s two biggest economies, i m joined by alicia garcia herrero chief economist at natixis. good to have you on the programme. from your perspective, when we are looking at trade, the two biggest economies in the world, how important is this trip? extremely important. and the main reason for this trip is not even trade, it s about assurance to really avoid a military conflict in taiwan and i think that s th
lack of confidence in the chinese economy within china and that is, i think, a very worrisome starting point which, in a way, justifies, in my opinion, the more appealing idea of this blinken visit, even from china s side, because china needs, more than ever, foreign investment. foreign investment. alicia garcia herrero, foreign investment. alicia garcia herrero, really- foreign investment. alicia. garcia herrero, really good foreign investment. alicia - garcia herrero, really good to get your take on this trip, which is quite a significant trip. chief economist at natixis. thank you very much. well, let s stay with china because italy s government has decided that the chief executive of the tyre maker pirelli cannot be designated by its main chinese shareholder sinochem. the decision is a part of measures announced designed to protect the autonomy of pirelli. let s go to our asia business hub to get more detail. mariko oi is there