PayPal, the Internet payment subsidiary of the American e-commerce company eBay, has reached a deal with the Chinese intra-bank card system operator China UnionPay, to allow China UnionPay's card holders to use PayPal as a payment tool when shopping on overseas websites.

According to PayPal, it will focus more on the Asian market in 2010. By the end of this year, the company expects to have 2,000 employees in Asia.

Starting from the third quarter of 2010, China UnionPay's card holders in China will be able to bind their cards with PayPal accounts. With this move, these users can contact eight million online vendors worldwide, including the American retailer Wal-Mart and the online retailer Zappos.com. It also allows international retailers to sell to a large base of Chinese customers, who hold a combined of 2.1 billion China UnionPay cards.

Scott Thompson, president of PayPal, told media that by 2011 PayPal's business scale is expected to be doubled compared with that of 2008. Alan Tien, general manager for PayPal China, predicted to local Chinese media that by 2013 the number of China's online shopping consumers will reach over 300 million.