TOKYO (AFP) — Search engine Baidu.com, which has risen rapidly as Internet use expands in China, launched a Japanese-language site on Wednesday.
But China's leading search engine could face tough competition in Japan, where Internet use is already widespread. Yahoo dominates Japan's search engine market, trailed by Google.
Robin Li, Baidu's chairman and chief executive, told a press conference that the company had taken measures to ensure legal compliance in Japan including over copyrights, a frequent concern developed economies raise with China.
"We are very excited to officially enter the Japanese search market," Li said.
He said that Baidu's expertise in the Chinese language, whose characters are also used in Japanese, would help with the launch of the new site at www.baidu.jp.
"Given the success we have already encountered after nearly one year of testing our beta site, we are confident that we can provide a high quality Japanese-language search engine," Li said.
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