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The Chinese ambassador reportedly sought the meeting and no demarche or summon was issued by the MEA.
Highly placed sources maintained the meeting was a "routine call" and had nothing to do with recent media reports of incursions by Chinese troops into India or the Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh in November.
Ambassador Zhang reportedly met Joint Secretary (East Asia) Vijay Gokhale to discuss Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi's forthcoming visit to India.
Chinese embassy officials did not divulge details of the meeting nor confirmed that such a meeting had taken place.
Both Indian and Chinese officials have maintained there is no escalation of tension on the Line of Actual Control -- the international India-China border.
The Chinese ambassador met Gokhale on a day when a proposed meeting of the government's Chinese Working Group under National Security Advisor M K Narayanan's leadership was reportedly called off.