Amazon Web Services (AWS) is looking to extend its presence in the cloud services market by opening up a Chinese region.

The company cites “thousands” of customers in China who currently uses AWS’ services, including the likes of Xiaomi, NQ Mobile and Papaya Mobile, and is looking to expand through partnerships.

Partnerships include various local providers, including ChinaNetCenter and SINNET to provide infrastructure and ISP services, with “a select group” of China-based and multinational companies being chosen for the initial trial.

The amazonaws.cn page (below) is live and ready for limited preview in early 2014:

“China represents an important long-term market segment for AWS,” said Andy Jassy, AWS SVP in a statement. “We are looking forward to working with Chinese customers, partners, and government institutions to help small and large organisations use cloud computing to innovate and deploy faster, save money, expand their geographic reach, and do so without …