ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: Pakistan on Tuesday said it had authorised China to negotiate any deal with India to satisfy it on the issue of Mumbai attacks.

Speaking at a reception at the Chinese Embassy, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he had told the special envoy of the Chinese government, Mr He Yafei, to “go to Delhi and you have a blank cheque from us”.

He said he had told the envoy that Pakistan would endorse whatever China would tell India.

The Chinese envoy had visited Pakistan on December 29 and, during his meetings with country’s leaders, had indicated that China would remain engaged to promote peace and stability in the region.

Soon after Mr Yafei’s visit, Pakistan made two proposals for defusing tensions -- asking India to “deactivate forward airbases” and “relocate the troops back to peace-time positions”.

The Chinese envoy had travelled to New Delhi on Jan 5 and urged India to try to de-escalate the tensions and resume dialogue with Pakistan.

Although the Chinese initiative initially received a cold response from the Indians, they later changed their attitude and discussed their concerns with the envoy.