TOKYO (AFP) — Japanese electronics giant Sharp Corp. said Friday it aimed to expand its presence in China but expected continued weakness in Europe and the United States.

The company, known particularly for its liquid crystal displays and solar power cells, said it aimed to become the top TV brand in China and promised to build a factory there.
“We have been talking with our partners” about a plant in China, president Mikio Katayama told journalists in Tokyo. “We want to make high quality products at low cost in China,” he said without giving details.
The company, maker of the popular AQUOS brand of LCD televisions, expects to return to profit this fiscal year to March, after suffering its first annual loss last year amid the global economic slump.
Katayama said Japan and China provided opportunities, thanks to swift and massive government stimulus measures, in addition to the robust purchasing power of the Chinese middle class.
Sharp hopes to sell 1.2 million LCD televisions in China in the year to March as part of a worldwide target of 10 million units sold worldwide. The company sold 1.04 million LCD televisions in China in the last fiscal year.
The company has focused on building itself into a premium brand in China and has worked to get its products certified for Beijing’s new program to subsidize home appliance purchases in rural communities, he said.
The opportunities for the company in China contrast with those in more mature markets such as Western Europe, said Katayama.
“We cannot be aggressive in places where our brand strength is not established,” he said. “But we plan to stay aggressive in areas where we are strong.”
“Western Europe is not a place where our brand strength is. Europe was leading the global market until the economic crisis. But now we cannot find banks that would finance our projects in Europe.”
The immediate outlook for the United States and Europe was uncertain due mainly to continued financial woes, although they remained important markets for long-term strategies, Katayama said.
The United States provided a “complex” outlook for the company because of the strength of various rival companies already well positioned there, as well as the unclear scope of the Green New Deal initiative, Katayama added.
U.S. President Barack Obama’s Green New Deal refers to public spending that aims to reinvigorate the recession-hit US economy and create jobs while also bolstering alternative energies and energy efficient technologies.