Yahoo! launched a Web site for Internet searches for Chinese users on Monday, in the wake of search rival Google's strategic investment in China's largest search engine company, said a CBS.Marketwatch.com report.

Yahoo said in a statement quoted by newspapers that its 'Yisou,' or 'Number One Search,' will be powered by Yahoo Search Technology and will provide access to Yahoo! e-mail, Yahoo messenger and Internet helper, reported CBS.Marketwatch.com.

Last week, Google took a strategic stake in leading Chinese-language Internet search engine Baidu. Yahoo! dropped Baidu from its Chinese-language website in March when it switched to YST.

Baidu's chief executive Robin Yanhong Li told CBS Marketwatch in a recent interview that Yahoo! China is the most aggressive investor in the Chinese search market.

China has the second-largest online population, yet accounts for just 1 per cent of the global advertising market on the Internet. There are about 80 million people logging on in China, second behind the United States, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Google had reportedly been interested in acquiring 3721 Network Software, before it was sold to Yahoo! for $120 million last November, said CBS.Marketwatch.com.