Motorola (NYSE: MOT) may have gotten its first public bite for its ailing cellphone operation during the final day of Mobile World Congress. On Thursday, Xiong Hui, a marketing VP for handsets at ZTE, told Reuters that “we’ve been keeping in touch with Motorola on a wider cooperation.”

The exec declined to give more details, but the comment has been the biggest sign of support yet since Motorola said it was exploring options for its handset division. Some of the company’s biggest rivals, including Samsung and LG (SEO: 066570), have dismissed buying or partnering with Motorola, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Tribune reported that ZTE later issued a statement saying it “often talks with other leading telecommunications manufacturers around potential opportunities for collaboration.” Both ZTE and Motorola declined to comment on a potential merger, but analysts suspect that partnering with Motorola would give the smaller handset company a jump on production and international distribution.

The talk of a potential partnership corresponds with the launch of ZTE’s first handset in the U.S. BusinessWeek writes: “ZTE isn’t exactly a household name in the U.S., but the Chinese company’s cell phones are well known in its home country and India. Now ZTE is giving the U.S. market a try with a phone called the C88. Though a pretty basic flip phone, the C88 may provide insight into ZTE’s design and market philosophy for other handsets to come.”

It’s also unclear how hard Motorola is trying to shed the unit. Cnet reported this week that Motorola still heavily believes in its handset business, and that it may not only be looking to spin it off, but also looking for ways to revive it.

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