Apple Inc. will launch Apple Pay, its digital mobile payment system, in China on Feb. 18, marking its debut in the Asian market. The Cupertino-based tech giant will team up with UnionPay, which is the dominant interbank network in China, along with 19 other Chinese banks.

Starting from Thursday, Apple Pay will be available to customers of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, bank representatives revealed as reported by Reuters. However, the financial arrangements of Apple Pay in China are yet to be disclosed.

On the same day, China Guangfa Bank Co and China Construction Bank Corp will also introduce support for Apple Pay.

There were reports in November last year that Apple was planning to launch its mobile payment system in China before the Chinese New Year.

Apple has been eyeing the lucrative Chinese market to debut its mobile payment system. To launch the service in China, Apple had to overcome major regulatory issues in the country.

In mainland China, Apple Pay also faces tough competition from already established Alipay and Tenpay, which together hold nearly 64 percent of the market share for electronic mobile payments.

According to The Wall Street Journal, more than 358 million Chinese consumers conduct their payment online through mobile devices, as revealed by the 2015 databases of the official China Internet Network Information Centre.

Apple Pay allows iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users to make payments at contactless terminals. It uses NFC (near-field communication) technology without depending on a telecom network.

To keep transactions safe and secure, the mobile wallet platform makes use of " tokenisation" which prevents credit or debit card numbers from being sent over the air.

Apple Pay was launched in the US in 2014, and later expanded to the UK, Australia and Canada. In 2016, Apple Pay will also be launched in Hong Kong, Singapore and Spain, according to unofficial sources.

In related news, Samsung is expected to reveal its international expansion plans for Samsung Pay later this month at the MWC 2016.

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