Syngenta Biotechnology, which recently announced plans to expand its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park, also is expanding operations in China.

The subsidiary of the Swiss drug maker plans to spend $100 million over the next five years to expand at the Zhongguancun Life Science Park in Beijing. The company already employs 70 people there.

That facility is overseen by officials in RTP, including Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, who left rival Bayer CropScience in October to become president of Syngenta Biotechnology.

"The capability expansion in China, combined with that of our U.S. biotechnology facility, will enable us to continue providing new solutions that increase crop yield and productivity, and offer additional choices for growers,” he said in a prepared statement.

Earlier this month, Syngenta Biotechnology announced it leased 100,000 square feet of additional space in RTP and signed a contract to purchase 50 acres of land as a possible future expansion site.

The company employs more than 400 people at its RTP campus, where it develops crop protection products and genetically engineered corn and soybean seeds that are more resistant to drought and disease.

Syngenta Biotechnology has recruited a top researcher from a main rival to oversee its global biotech research efforts.

While just one man changing jobs, the news also reinforces this region's reputation as a major hub in the world's economy.

Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, who earned his college degrees in the Netherlands, will be based at Syngenta's North American biotech headquarters in Research Triangle Park. That's where the division of the Swiss drug maker employs more than 400 people. He'll also oversee research at a facility in Beijing.

He previously was head of bioscience research at Bayer CropScience, a division of the German conglomerate that also employs more than 400 at its North American headquarters in RTP.

Both Syngenta Biotechnology and Bayer CropScience are expanding as demand increases for pesticides and other crop protection products.