LONDON -- Phoenix Publishing and Media Group, a leading publishing company in China, launched its digital printing base in Essex of southeastern Britain on Thursday.

The launching of the digital printing base is a major step toward internationalization of the company, Zhang Zaijian, general manager of the Jiangsu Phoenix Xinhua Printing Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the PPMG, said at the opening ceremony.

"This is an important strategy of the PPMG to expand its market from home to abroad," Zhang said.

"This is the beginning of a long and prosperous partnership between Phoenix and Essex," said Essex County Councillor Kevin Bentley.

He noted that since Essex and China's Jiangsu province established friendly ties in 1988, the two sides have scored big achievements in the fields of culture, education and business. He expressed his support to the development of the Chinese company.

The PPMG, based in eastern Jiangsu province, is now involved in publishing, book distribution, printing, hotel, real estate, and finance, with its annual sales income amounting to 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion). It has 11,000 employees in China and 34 affiliated units.

The business and services of its Britain unit covers printing, copyright trading and publishing, which will help create more jobs in Essex.

The PPMG also announced Thursday the opening of the London representative office of the Phoenix Auction company, which it said marked its business diversification.

The PPMG also plans to build such digital printing bases in South America and Russia in the coming three years, in a bid to build the "Phoenix" brand worldwide.