Hans Wijers made the comments last week when Akzo Nobel announced the setting up of a new regional head office in Shanghai.
"We more than doubled our sales in China in less than five years and our ambition is to repeat that," said Wijers. Last year, the group's Chinese revenues were $484 million, generated from more than 20 local operations employing 3,000 people.
Akzo Nobel needs to find new areas for growth after running into difficulties in its pharmaceuticals business, hit recently by patent expirations, safety concerns with some core product lines and a difficult operating environment for contract manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients, as well as high raw materials prices.
The division has already seen significant restructuring and has just been the subject of a new programme that will see its subsidiaries Organon and Diosynth merged into one unit.
Nearly all of Akzo Nobel's businesses have some active involvement in China, where nearly 70 per cent of all locally manufactured goods are sold in the country itself, said Wijers.
"Our approach with regards to China and its enormous market potential is based on the firm strategy Akzo Nobel follows across the globe," he added.
"We are actively obtaining leadership positions in selective markets in healthcare products, coatings and chemicals."
Akzo Nobel's coatings group is the major player in China (63 per cent), helped by two new plants that opened there in July, and this is followed by chemicals (28 per cent) and pharma (9 per cent).