Apple CEO Tim Cook strengthened speculation about the next destination for its mobile payment service with comments to Xinhua on a visit to China.

“We very much want to get Apple Pay in China,” said Cook.

Apple has been talking to local banks and e-commerce giant Alibaba about launching Apple Pay in the country.

Cook described the launch of Apple Pay in the US last October – the only market where it is currently available –as “a huge start” and believes that it could grow even faster in China.

“I’m very bullish on Apple Pay in China,” he said.

However, he gave no indication of when it might come to China. Nor has the company scheduled any further launches outside the US so far. This has led to significant speculation about which market might be next after the US. China is on the prospect list, as is Australia, Canada and the UK.