The minister sought to set at rest speculation that his visit to Beijing is being put off by India apparently to express disapproval over its Ambassador Nirupama Rao being summoned well past midnight last Friday by the Chinese Foreign Ministry to register its protest over a group of Tibetans storming the Chinese Embassy in Delhi.

"We have to cancel the trip for the time being, we will seek fresh dates," he told reporters here when asked about the cancellation of his visit and whether it has anything to do with the fresh strain in ties between India and China over the Tibet issue. My trip has not been called off because of any diplomatic reasons, my trip has been cancelled because of problems in dates," he said.

Nath was to visit Beijing for the joint empowered group meeting on April two to review progress made on the negotiations for Regional Trade Agreement which the two countries had decided to put in place.

"Some dates were fixed, they were changed, again fixed and again changed. My trip has been called of because of my engagement here and because of engagement of the Chinese minister," Nath said.