Baidu.com, China’s leading internet search engine, launched its Japanese-language site on Wednesday, AFP reported. Baidu faces stiff competition in Japan’s search market, which is dominated by Yahoo, with Google in second place. Robin Li, Baidu’s chairman and CEO, said the company’s Chinese-language expertise – many Chinese characters also appear in Japanese – would give it an edge. He added that Baidu had taken steps to ensure it complied with local regulations including those related to copyright. "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.