GOOGLE Inc said its Android software is “doing very well” in China, where the company is working to boost its services for wireless devices after falling behind in the search-engine market for users of traditional computers.

“In China, you are seeing the Android operating system, Android phone proliferating across the board,” Daniel Alegre, president of Asia-Pacific at Google, said in a briefing in Hong Kong yesterday. The company is differentiating its services for computer users and people who access its sites using mobile phones, said Alegre, who didn’t provide more details on Android’s performance in China.

The popularity of phones based on Android in China may be a greater boon for Baidu Inc, the main rival for Google in the world’s biggest Internet market. Beijing-based Baidu last week said most of Android devices sold in China use its search engine, rather than that of Google’s.

The default search engine on 80 percent of Android phones sold in China is Baidu, Yue Guofeng, head of the Chinese company’s mobile Internet division, said on April 26. Alegre declined to comment on Baidu’s claim.

“Baidu is extending its lead in the PC space into mobile,” said Paul Wuh, head of Internet research at Samsung Securities Co in Hong Kong. Still, he expects Google will also benefit by selling advertising attached to Android smartphone applications.

Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, accounted for 19.2 percent of China’s search market by revenue in the first quarter, down from 19.6 percent three months earlier, according to research company Analysys International.

Baidu’s market share climbed to 75.8 percent from 75.5 percent, according to Analysys.

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CHINA yesterday urged the United States for a more comprehensive, objective and fairer evaluation on China’s efforts over protection of intellectual property rights.

“The Chinese government attaches high importance to intellectual property rights protection, and the efforts are effective,” Yao Jian, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman, said in a note posted on its website yesterday.

China launched a nationwide campaign in October to crack down on infringement of intellectual property rights, and also strengthened penalties against such crimes. The campaign was due to end in March but has been extended for another three months.

Yao said the campaign has helped raise public awareness over the issue and improved the market environment for IPR protection.

“China is happy that the US authorities acknowledged some efforts have been made,” Yao said. “But we regret that the US still puts China on the priority watch list.”

On Tuesday, the Office of the US Trade Representative released the 2011 Special 301 Report, an annual review of the global state of IPR protection and enforcement.

China remains on the priority watch list with 11 other countries. The report said China is still subject to section 306 monitoring, which means the USTR office can apply for trade sanctions against China if there is an easing in the country’s enforcement of bilateral IPR agreements.

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CITIC Resources Holdings Ltd, a Chinese oil and coal producer with assets in Kazakhstan and Australia, is seeking to raise HK$2.5 billion (US$322 million) through a rights issue to help fund expansion.

The metal producer-turned-energy supplier said it plans to issue 1.82 billion rights shares at HK$1.38 apiece on the basis of three rights shares for every 10 held. That’s a 26 percent discount to the stock’s closing price on Tuesday.

Citic Resources is seeking to almost double oil output by 2014 from last year to help supply the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The unit of state-owned Citic Group will use the proceeds of the rights issue to enhance its financial flexibility, fund investments and develop Yuedong field that will boost the value of its oil-assets portfolio upon full production, the company said in a statement yesterday.

“The rights offering will definitely dilute the share prices of Citic Resources, adding downward pressure on the stock,” Shi Yan, an analyst at UOB-Kay Hian Ltd, said in Shanghai.

“There has also been some uncertainty in the company’s production growth, and the rights offer will add to some investor frustration.”

Citic Resources expected Yuedong to produce 1.8 million tons a year by 2014, former CEO Sun Xinguo said in August. Output at the field in Bohai Bay off China’s northeastern coast was expected to be about 60,000 tons in 2010, according to Sun.

Overall output was 2.1 million tons last year. The firm will lift output in 2011, CEO Zeng Chen said on March 28, without giving details.

The Chinese energy producer, which counts Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte as a shareholder, bought Karazhanbas oilfield in west Kazakhstan in 2007.

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