China eyes more direct flights with Latin America and the Caribbean region, and their ties "are not directed against any third party and should not be subject to interference by any third party", the director-general of the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs at China's Foreign Ministry has said.

The relations are "based solely on mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, without any geopolitical calculations", Zhang Run told reporters from home and abroad in Beijing on Friday.

"It is up to the people of Latin America themselves to choose which path their countries will take, and it is up to the Latin American countries themselves to decide whom they will befriend," he said.

Zhang was speaking at a media salon organized by the China Public Diplomacy Association to mark the first anniversary of the launch of five programs of Solidarity, Development, Civilization, Peace, and People-to-People Connectivity for building the China-Latin America and the Caribbean community with a shared future.

China is eager to make bilateral people-to-people exchanges easier as well as launch more direct flight routes, Zhang said at the event.

"China's willingness to advance China-Latin America relations will not change, our resolve to achieve common development will not change, and our goal of jointly promoting South-South cooperation will not change," he said.

Zhang addressed the issue of visa application difficulties faced by citizens of countries that do not have diplomatic relations with China.

This clearly shows that maintaining so-called "diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities does not serve the fundamental interests of the people of those countries, he said.

"We hope that the very few countries in Latin America and the Caribbean region will have a clear-eyed view of the trend of history, heed the will of their people, and join at an early date the big family (of countries) that recognize the one-China principle," he added.

Zhang also reiterated that China opposes the United States' sanctions and embargo against Cuba.

Beijing will continue to firmly support the Cuban people in pursuing a development path suited to their national conditions, he said.