SHENYANG, China — While General Motors awaits word from Washington on its request for a multibillion-dollar bailout, the cash-strapped U.S. automaker has just opened another assembly plant in China with local partner Shanghai Auto.The $390 million factory, GM's second in the northern city of Shenyang, has already begun pilot production of the new Chevrolet Cruze compact. GM does not plan to begin building and selling the Cruze in the U.S. until model-year 2011, but the new model will begin reaching Chinese showrooms in the spring.GM and its local partners now have the capacity to produce more than 1 million vehicles a year in China. The new Shenyang plant can build up to 150,000 cars a year. GM and Shanghai Auto also operate assembly plants in Shanghai, Liuzhou and Yantai, building a wide range of products from Wuling microvans to Buick sedans.GM executives have said the company expects to sell up to 1.2 million vehicles, including imports, in China in 2009, despite an industry-wide downturn this year.Inside Line says: If only things looked so rosy back home. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent