BizChina

From panel spraying, frame welding to fittings assembly, these are the workshops of a factory of China's electronic giant Haier in Thailand. The products were so familiar, and so was the scene of lots of identical, nearly- finished refrigerators queuing on the assembly lines. Only one thing: the workers here are all Thais.

The factory of China's Haier Electric PCL in Prachinburi province, Thailand, was purchased by Haier three years ago, Ding Gaofeng, the assistant manager in charge of refrigerator workshops, told Xinhua reporter.

It is the first factory that Haier ever owned in Thailand as well as in Southeast Asia, he said.

"I believe this is also the first time that a Chinese electric brand makes a large-scale presence in Thailand's market," the manager said, adding that Japanese and South Korean brands have been dominating this market for decades.

He was confident that more and more made-in-China electric products will enter Thailand and other ASEAN markets soon following the establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area ( FTA) on Jan. 1 this year and the gradual implementation of the FTA terms.

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin launched its flagship store in Beijing Sunday evening in a push to increase its presence in the premier Asian market.

The store, located at 66 Jinbao Street, Chaoyang District, is more than twice as big as Beijing's other two Aston Martin stores and is the largest in Asia Pacific. The 500 sq m showroom will display seven of the luxury vehicles each costing roughly 1.3 million yuan.

"(Beijing) is a representation of the history of China, of the life in China, and this is why we are here," CEO of Aston Martin, Ulrich Bez told METRO Sunday.

Despite the economic recession's impact on luxury good sales, Bez said Aston Martin continues to expand worldwide and the Asia market is one of the fastest growing.

"Whatever the situation is in the economy if you have a great product, you will be successful and if you have a bad product you will suffer," he said.

Taobao 's gross turnover in 2009 is expected to exceed 200 billion yuan ($ 29.3 billion), and an executive committee is to be established to push for the success of the 'Big Taobao' strategy, according to a spokesperson for Alibaba Group on Jan. 25.

The parent company also expects Taobao to double its turnover in 2010 to 400 billion yuan ($58.6 billion), surpassing that of eBay Inc., said John Spelich, Alibaba 's vice president of international corporate affairs.

Alibaba Group is also strengthening the leadership of Life.alipay, which will coordinate with the 'Big Taobao' strategy to improve China's online trusted secure sytem for ecommerce payment.

Chinese equities fell for the third consecutive day Tuesday, driving the benchmark index down to a nearly three-month low as fears of policy tightening continued to dampen property shares.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.42 percent, or 75.02 points, to close at 3,019.39 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index lost 2.47 percent, or 307.63 points, to close at 12,162.56 points.

Combined turnover totaled 181.72 billion yuan (26.61 billion U.S. dollars), expanding from 155.26 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 837 to 55 in Shanghai and 789 to 66 in Shenzhen.