China Unicom, the country's third largest telecoms provider, is sending its executives to the US to discuss a plan to bring the 3G iPad 2 to China, Bloomberg reports, citing a company employee.

The news comes from sales department manager Yu Yingtao, who also specifies that a release date is unknown for the time being, since Apple is still waiting approval from China's Ministry of Industry.

Market rumours even say that China Unicom could actually be aiming to introduce the next generation iPad and not the 3G iPad 2, but this late gossip has not been confirmed by the company.

Wi-Fi models of Apple's iPad 2 reached the China market in May, rapidly selling out. However, 3G iPad 2 versions never hit the market officially, but were available on the country's grey market.

Because of China's stringent requirements, some of Apple's product launches have had a considerable delay compared to their release in North America or Europe. Especially in the case of the iPhone and iPad, it seems that the Chinese government has elaborate security requirements for networked mobile devices that are difficult to meet.

Reportedly, the first iPhones to arrive in China had their WiFi connection capability removed, in order to comply with the local laws and requirements.

Source:c114