China announced today that a top diplomat in charge of counter terrorism affairs will travel shortly to Pakistan, days after Islamabad said it had put under "house arrest" Mumbai attacks mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed.

Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping, who handles external security affairs and terrorism, will "shortly" travel to Pakistan to "discuss counterterrorism efforts", Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said today.

Lu did not directly answer a question about speculation that Chinese pressure may have prompted Pakistan to detain Hafiz Saeed. Other reports have suggested the move may have been aimed at assuaging the new Donald Trump administration in the United States.

Also read: Mumbai terror attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed placed on Pak's Exit Control List

"I noticed relevant reports," Lu said when asked if China had been behind the move. While not outright denying China's role, he defended Pakistan's counter terrorism record, as China often does publicly despite its concerns on the security situation in the country.

"For a long time Pakistan made enormous efforts and sacrifice on counter terrorism," he said. "China supports independent strategies made by Pakistan in counter terrorism and supports the international community in conducting cooperation on that and reiterates it must be based on mutual respect."

China has been concerned about terror groups in Pakistan that Beijing says have links to the separatist East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM). The newly appointed Director General of Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutanant General Naveed Mukhtar, is said to have paid a quiet visit to China last month shortly after taking over, in part to assuage Chinese fears about the safety of its personnel and projects in Pakistan amid increasing investments as part of the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan.

China is also concerned about recent attacks in Xinjiang, where six attackers were killed in two separate incidents in the past month in Hotan, not far from the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir border. In January, Xinjiang officials said they were tightening the China-PoK border to prevent terrorists from entering China.

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