(Yicai Global) Dec. 6 -- Starbucks Corp. [NASDAQ:SBUX] is opening one store in China every 15 hours, Belinda Wong, chief executive of Starbucks China, told CNBC yesterday.

China has become the Seattle-based coffeehouse chain's second-largest and fastest-growing market, and the company expects that country to surpass the US. Starbucks operates more than 3,000 stores in China and plans to open another 2,000 by 2021.

"To us, we open 500-plus stores a year, but to us, it's not about 500," Wong said. "It's about opening a store 500 different times because you're in a different neighborhood and we've got to build that relationship with our customers."

Starbucks is establishing more net new stores in China than in the US, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said.

Comparable-sales growth in China outstripped that in the US last quarter, with China posting an 8-percent increase and the US reporting a 3-percent rise, excluding impacts from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.