McDonald’s plans to accelerate restaurant openings in China by adding up to 250 new outlets this year. The expansion program would mark a new high in the number of McDonald’s store openings in a year in China, which is behind Japan in terms of having the largest network of restaurants established by McDonald’s in the Asia-Pacific region. CEO James Skinner said the company opened a record 200 restaurants in China in 2011. This year, the total number of its stores in the domestic market would be raised to between 1,689 and 1,714. It had 1,464 stores in China at the end of last year, compared with 3,298 in Japan. While McDonald’s remains the world’s largest operator of hamburger fast-food restaurants, its expansion efforts in China pale in comparison to those of Yum! Brands. Kentucky-based Yum! is the leading fast-food restaurant chain in China, where it has about 4,200 stores in more than 700 cities. Its brands include KFC, Pizza Hut and hotpot chain Little Sheep. Market research publisher IbisWorld forecast that China’s fast food industry would generate sales of USD147 billion by 2016, up from an estimated USD74.8 billion last year. There were nearly two million establishments operating in the industry last year, including franchise and chain operators of all sizes and independent Chinese-style fast-food facilities, according to IbisWorld.