company and local government officials attended an opening ceremony in changzhou, jiangsu province. the plant is the electric company's first outside japan. yaskawa electric spent about $40 million to build the facility for making, welding other robots. the firm aims to achieve a monthly output of 1,000 units in fiscal 2015. china's robot market is becoming the world's largest as many manufacturers are replacing employees with robots in light of soaring labor costs. another japanese maker also began assembling robots in jiangsu province last month. >>> the bank of tokyo mitsubishi ufj is negotiating to buy a leading thai bank. the japanese bank is planning to launch full-scale financial business operations in southeast asia. tokyo mitsubishi ufj intends to purchase a majority stake. in the bank public company unlimited. it is aiming to reach an agreement with major shareholders such as general electric of the united states. the japanese bank expects to use the thai bank's network of branches and clients to make loans to japanese firms operating in thailand, as well as to local indiv