Baidu reveals strategy behind overseas expansion

Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu Inc. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

The logic of Baidu's overseas expansion is to choose countries that are five to six years behind China in Internet development, such as India, Indonesia and Brazil, said Zhang Yaqin, president of China's search engine giant, during the Second World Internet Conference on Thursday.

"Baidu has more than 700 million users abroad, with over 250 million active users in a month. Over the past three decades, we have virtualized the physical world, but in the next three decades, we will go the reverse process, applying the Internet technology and business model to the physical world."

China has witnessed a rapid development of its Internet industry over the past two decades. The Internet has profoundly affected almost every facet of Chinese people’s lives including communication, transportation, and entertainment.

As of July 2015, the number of Internet users had reached 668 million, the most in the world, according to official figures. All cities and towns, and 93.5 percent of administrative villages in China now have access to the Internet.

The thriving Internet industry and the gigantic market potential have also bred countless Internet companies, and some of them, such as Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba, have become international goliaths.

Chinese authorities have attached more importance to the Internet, pledging to transform China from a big Internet nation to a great one. The Internet, with better management, will be more open to the world.