Baidu, Microsoft team up for English search in China

English search queries will be directed from Baidu to Microsoft's Bing search engine, the Chinese company said in a statement late on Monday.

Baidu dominates search in China with more than 75% of the market.

The move is aimed at increasing Microsoft's small web presence in the biggest internet market in the world.

Baidu said that it expected the service to start later this year.

The two firms have already co-operated on mobile platforms and page results.

Some analysts say this partnership is aimed at taking market share from Google, which has already retreated from the Chinese market because of a censorship spat with the government.

Despite that Google is still the second biggest search engine in China.

"The co-operation between Baidu and Microsoft will further strengthen Baidu's dominance in China's search engine market, and will also make Google's business in China more difficult," said Dong Xu, an analyst with Analysys International.