British coffee chain Costa Coffee plans to make China its ‘second home’.

The cafe brand, owned by Whitbread, plans to have 700 outlets trading in the tea-drinking nation of China by 2017 – 400 more than currently.

In Singapore, where it has seven stores, Costa Coffee said it will open five to 10 outlets annually over the next few years to compete with foreign rivals like Starbucks and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The civil turmoil in Thailand is not deterring Costa Coffee from further expanding there, where it will open 15 new outlets this year.

“I think what we’ve learned from developing coffee shops is that it (political unrest) may cause you to pause for breath but it won’t change your overall strategy,” said Andy Marshall, MD of the company’s international franchise business.

Elsewhere in Asia, Costa Coffee also has presence in India – and Cambodia, where it opened five outlets in Phnom Penh and Siam Reap.