"We believe in our proven strength in non-English language search," said Robin Li, chairman and chief executive officer of Beijing-based Baidu.com Inc, in a statement yesterday.

He said the high Internet penetration in Japan, as well as similarities between the Chinese and Japanese languages "make this market an ideal next step for Baidu."

Baidu has conducted more than six months of extensive research into the development of Japanese language search technology, the statement said.

But the biggest obstacle would be the intense competition and understanding of the needs of the Japanese market, where the world's Internet giants Google and Yahoo have already taken a dominant share, company officials admitted.

Officials refused to say whether Baidu will set up the branch alone or seek Japanese partners for its Japanese service joint venture.

Baidu also has plans to expand into other Asian markets in the future. It has begun to recruit people familiar with the Japanese, Korean and Vietnam languages since late last year.

Sales of Baidu nearly doubled the combined income of Google's and Yahoo's China divisions in the third quarter at 237 million yuan (30 million U.S. dollars), nearly 57 percent of the Chinese market, according to Analysys International, a Beijing-based IT research firm.

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