China vital for Google's global strategy: Schmidt

China's rapidly growing purchases of smartphones and the popularity of the Android operating system makes the country an important piece for Google's global strategy, said Eric Schmidt, the company's executive chairman.

"We care a lot about Chinese citizens' requirements and will try to figure out ways to fulfill the needs," said Schmidt in Beijing on Friday.

He made an unexpected trip to a local electronics mall in the city and was given introductions to made-in-China Android devices. Google is the developer of the Android operating system, which is widely used in mobile devices.

"The mobile market in China is immense and Android has been a tremendous success in China because it's free and flexible," said Schmidt, who added that Google will focusing on making more applications available on the Android OS.

It was Schmidt's second public trip to China this year. The Google CEO was in Beijing in January after a high-profile visit to North Korea.