President Hu Jintao kicked off a three-nation Latin America tour on Sunday after attending the G20 summit on the global crisis in Washington DC a day earlier. His trip to Costa Rica, Cuba and Peru as well as participation in the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on Nov 22 are expected to elevate China's relations with the continent to a new height.

With a long history of friendship, China and Latin American countries have made remarkable progresses in developing bilateral ties since the start of the new century.

At a time when international contexts are experiencing profound and complicated changes, the two sides faced stronger demands and fresh drives to further advance bilateral ties.