Even though it's one of the world's piracy hotspots, Nintendo still wants to enter the Chinese market.
Nintendo's total worldwide GameCube shipment total is around the 10 million mark, which is on pace with Microsoft and far behind Sony, which has PS2 shipments upwards of 50 million. Because of the GameCube's lackluster sales, Nintendo is looking to enter a new market to help make up some sales.
China is one of the biggest countries responsible for videogame piracy, yet Nintendo thinks that with a new strategy, they can successfully market products there. Exactly when Nintendo will start entering China or what products will be sold there are unknown at the time.
The Asahi Shimbun article also mentioned a detail of Nintendo's new rewards system. Much like the European system, consumers will need to register on the internet. The information collected via this registration process will be used to analyze customer tendencies.