US convenience store group 7-Eleven has said that its business unit in Japan has been given the go-ahead by China’s ministry of commerce to open stores around the country’s capital Beijing.

Seven-Eleven Japan has invested in a joint venture in China with Beijing ShouLian Commercial Group and China National Sugar and Alcohol Group and will open its first store in Beijing in early 2004.

Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm International has the license for the US-based 7-Eleven operations in southern China.