Chinese computer firm Lenovo has mischievously hinted that it is looking at making a bid for RIM, just a week ahead of the planned unveiling of RIM’s new make-or-break BlackBerry line.

“We are looking at all opportunities – RIM and many others,” Lenovo CFO Wong Wai Ming told Bloomberg in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. “We’ll have no hesitation if the right opportunity comes along.”

While the comments were off-the-cuff, such a move is not seen as impossible; Lenovo instantly established itself as a serious player in the PC market following the purchase of IBM’s PC business 2005 – and it could see RIM as a similar route into mobile. It has also been linked to Nokia in the past.

Nevertheless, some commentators were highly skeptical that a move for RIM was imminent.

“Anybody who’s serious about buying a company doesn’t go talking it up… It sounds to me like a comment made more for publicity’s sake than a serious approach for RIM,” Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder told Reuters. “It is a very long shot at the best.”

A sale of RIM to Lenovo would also likely face opposition in RIM’s home market of Canada and in the US where regulators have voiced security concerns about Chinese computer firms.

According to Reuters, RIM shares surged to a 13-month high after CEO Thorsten Heins said RIM might consider strategic alliances with other companies following next week’s BlackBerry 10 launch.

Its shares closed up 2.2 percent higher at $17.74 on the NASDAQ yesterday in apparent response to the Lenovo story.