The Portuguese Institute of the Orient (IPOR) in Macao intends to open this year an office in Beijing and a Portuguese language centre in Chengdu, in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan, Lusa reports.

The Portuguese news agency quotes IPOR Director Joaquim Ramos Coelho as saying the Beijing office may open next month or the month after, with preparatory work launched early this year.

Mr Coelho said the number of Mainland Chinese studying or wishing to study Portuguese by distance learning made the Beijing office necessary.

He said the office could also help Mainland Chinese universities train their teachers of Portuguese.

Even without a Portuguese language centre in Chengdu, IPOR has already begun teaching Portuguese to doctors, nurses and medical technicians in Sichuan, Lusa says.