China released its first policy paper on Latin America and the Caribbean on Wednesday ahead of President Hu Jintao's Latin American tour, eyeing closer ties with the region.

"The policy paper was formulated with an aim to further clarify the goals of China's policy in this region and outline guiding principles for future cooperation," said Yang Wanming, director-general of the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs of the Foreign Ministry.

To coincide with Hu's visits to Costa Rica, Cuba, Peru and Greece from Nov. 16 to 26, the release of the policy paper was part of the preparation for Hu's Latin America visits, Yang said.

It took a long time to prepare, draft and revise the policy paper, said Yang, adding that China had kept in contact with countries of the region during the preparation work.

Diplomats from Latin America and the Caribbean spoke highly about the policy paper after they were briefed about the main contents on Tuesday, according to Yang

The paper applied to all the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean region, Yang said.

He said although a few countries in the region had still not established diplomatic ties with China, maintaining so-called official ties with Taiwan, China was willing to develop normal state-to-state relations with these countries.

China didn't have any objection to the non-governmental economic and cultural exchanges conducted by the countries in the region with Taiwan, he added.

Yang also expressed appreciation and gratitude for most Latin American and Caribbean countries' adherence to the one-China policy.

As to China's debt-relief policy for some less developed nations in the region, Yang said China will do everything it can to offer economic assistance for such nations.

China had carried out debt-relief plans for Bolivia, Yang said without elaborating.

With respect to proposals for enhancing military cooperation, Yang said the military cooperation of the two sides was completely transparent and didn't aim at any third party worldwide.

China shared common interests with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in tackling non-traditional security threats, he said.

China established diplomatic relations with many Latin American countries in the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, the two sides witnessed frequent high-level visits, fruitful cooperation and mutual coordination and cooperation in international affairs.

The policy paper is the first of its kind involving Latin America and the Caribbean issued by the government.

China released its first policy paper on the European Union in 2003 and issued "China's African Policy" in 2006.

Editor: Yan