The Walt Disney Co. is planning a range of projects in China, including a theme park on the mainland, incoming Chief Executive Robert Iger told Time magazine in an interview released on Sunday. Iger?s comments come about two months before the Sept. 12 launch of the $3.6 billion Hong Kong Disneyland, the company?s second resort in Asia after Japan.

Disney said last week it would not open a second theme park in China before 2010. The company had said in February that it was weighing a theme park for Shanghai. Disney forecasts about 10 million visitors at its Hong Kong park every year, which will make the development a key to the company?s future expansion in China.

?Our primary targets would be development of a park on the mainland, launching the Disney Channel and building our presence on new media platforms, such as broadband and cell phones,? Iger told Time when asked about Disney?s China plans. ?And, of course, more Disney movies.»Iger told the magazine that earnings from Disney?s movies were modest in China, citing ticket pricing, the relatively small number of theater screens and the ?fairly limited? split of revenue for studios.

He said that although the Chinese government seemed committed in spirit to crack down on the black market in illegal copies of movies, it had not done enough.?It?s important for the spirit to be put into action. I think it will come. But it is not there yet,? he told Time. ?Pirates need to be shut down and held accountable.? China?s 1.3 billion people include 290 million under the age of 14, Disney?s prime audience, presenting the company with a potentially huge market, Time said.

Unlike his predecessor, outgoing Chief Executive Michael Eisner, Iger has made overseas expansion a priority, the magazine said. He has visited China several times, met senior government leaders and even seen a movie at a Shanghai theater, the magazine said.Construction on Disney?s Hong Kong theme park and resort, which was announced in 1999, began in January 2003.