New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS): Days after the postponement of the India-China boundary talks, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said Tuesday that the high-level defence dialogue with Beijing that is "in the pipeline" will be held next month.

"I think, we expect whatever is in the pipeline will continue," Krishna told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day Passport Officers Conference that kicked off here in the morning.

He was replying to a question on whether the defence dialogue between India and China, scheduled for Dec 8 and 9, would take place.

The Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) will be held between Indian Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma and Chinese Deputy Chief of General Staff General Ma Xiaotian here.

The Chinese leader will also meet Defence Minister A.K. Antony as part of his visit to the Indian capital.

Ever since the Nov 28-29 boundary talks between special representatives of India and China got postponed last week over differences on Tibetan leader Dalai Lama's participation at the Buddhist conference here, there had been speculation that the defence dialogue too could be affected.

Krishna also met India's ambassador to China S. Jaishankar in the morning and discussed issues relating to India-China relations.

Jaishankar was here to participate in the delegation level boundary talks between National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and China's special representative Dai Bingguo that were subsequently postponed.

"Our ambassador to China was here for regular consultations with the foreign office. He had come prepared to assist the government if the talks between Special Representatives were to be held," said Krishna.

"He (the ambassador) served the useful purpose of exchanging views with the foreign office," he said.