CHENGDU, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Starbucks expects to open around 1,400 new coffee shops in China by 2019, the company said Tuesday.

The Seattle-based coffee chain has been expanding aggressively in central and western China, with the number of stores tripling over the past three years to more than 300 across 23 cities in the region.

The country known for its love of tea is now Starbucks' second largest market after the United States, with 2,000 stores across 99 cities.

It also set up shop on Alibaba's Tmall online retail marketplace in December.

While the Chinese market presents growth opportunities for Starbucks, the coffee chain also faces increasing competition from rival Costa Coffee and Pacific Coffee.