BEIJING (AFP) - Canon, Japan's largest maker of office equipment, plans to set up its Asian marketing center in Beijing amid ambitious plans to boost its China operations, state media said Tuesday.

The marketing center is meant to take over some of the functions currently covered by its subsidiaries in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The company has already transferred some marketing specialists from its Hong Kong and Singapore operations to the new Beijing center, the agency said, citing a company employee.

Canon, which makes cameras, copiers and printers, hopes to expand its sales volume in China by 300 percent by 2005.

To reach that ambitious goal, the company aims to increase the number of its China staff from 300 to 1,000 within the same period, and set up 15 new branches by the end of 2003, according to the agency.

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