Beijing: The outbreak of SARS epidemic and the Chinese government's all-out efforts to combat the killer disease has forced the postponement of some of the scheduled India-China bilateral meetings, including on counter-terrorism and security dialogue.

Confirming this, official sources said the two Foreign Ministries are in touch to reschedule the meetings at a time when bilateral ties are developing smoothly with more high-level visits, including one by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in the offing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said that due to the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in the country, many visits and meetings had to be postponed.

She said the Chinese Foreign Ministry is in touch with the Indian side to reschedule the meetings at mutually convenient dates.

Sources said that in the wake of the outbreak of the highly-contagious disease that has killed over 270 and infected some 5,000 others, the Chinese government has decided not to send its officials abroad except for urgent and unavoidable meetings.

Some of the bilateral meetings that have been delayed include the India-China Expert Group (EG) session on the boundary issue, the first meeting on the policy planning at the Foreign Ministry-level, security dialogue and counter-terrorism dialogue.

PTI