BAIDU.COM, China's most-used search engine, has entered a strategic partnership with Youku.com, a leading video-sharing site, to strengthen its video-search function.

Baidu will provide links to Youku in its video-search results on its Website, according to a statement from Youku.

"The two parties are still working on further cooperation after establishing a preliminary framework," said the statement, without clarifying.

Xu Jiye, a spokesman for Baidu, acknowledged the deal but refused to provide further details when reached by Shanghai Daily yesterday.

Zhu Huilong, a spokesman for Youku, also refused to comment on a market speculation that Baidu will take a stake in the Beijing-based start-up.

Baidu launched its own video-search function in February, which is still in the test stage, according to its Website. Video search accounts for only one percent of its total traffic, according to Web-ranking site Alexa.com.

Its partnership with Youku is not the first of this kind. In May, Baidu teamed up with Ku6.com, another video-sharing site in China, on video search.

The number of video-sharing sites increased greatly in China last year after Google's US$1.65-billion takeover of YouTube.com. There were more than 250 such sites in December, compared to 30-odd in January last year.

Youku, founded by former president of Chinese portal Sohu.com in late 2005, got US$12 million from Sutter Hill, Farallon Capital and Chengwei Ventures in December, after a first financing of US$3 million.