U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon said a first round of U.S.-China talks on Latin America this month would help clarify the long-term aims of both countries in a region traditionally considered in Washington's sphere of influence but where China is a fast growing presence.

"China is coming in with a very specific agenda, and coming in in a way that at least at first glance appears to be focused on identifying countries that have what it wants and are capable of exporting it," Shannon, who oversees Latin American affairs, told Reuters in Tokyo.

Trade between China and Latin America has grown sixfold over the past six years as Beijing has turned to the region for oil, copper, iron and grains to furnace its extraordinary growth.

China's massive appetite for raw materials has also driven up international commodity prices, providing an additional boost to Latin American economies that not long ago were battered by a tightening of global credit markets.

The government of Chinese President Hu Jintao, who has travelled twice to the region in the past two years, has promised to raise direct investment in Latin America to $100 billion before the end of the decade.

Shannon said China's sudden interest in Latin America, a region where the Chinese have not traditionally had a large purchasing relationship, made it imperative that the two countries consult.

"We don't necessarily view this as a negative. Quite the contrary, this could be a positive. It is one of the important reasons to sit down and talk with the Chinese about this," he said.

Shannon, who took over the Latin America bureau six months ago, said the United States had strong historical ties to the region where it had forged a comprehensive agenda built around democracy, free markets, economic integration and protection of the security of the democratic state.

"We have been operating in the region for quite some time," Shannon said.

He sharply disagreed with the view of analysts who consider relations between Washington and its Latin American neighbours at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War following the election of a string of leftist governments on the back of popular disenchantment with the perceived failure of U.S.-led free market reforms.

Shannon also said it was unlikely that Latin Americans, who in the mid 1980s made the transition from military-led governments to democracies, would see China's "peaceful rising" slogan as a model to end poverty in the region.

"I don't think the region views China as a model. Latin America is a region that has just recently moved out of an authoritarian period. I don't think it wants to go back," he said.

Shannon played down China's military presence in Latin America describing it as "not extensive". He said it consisted mostly of a handful of officer training schemes with some countries, among them Chile.

Last month during Senate Armed Service Committee hearings General Bantz Craddock, who overseas U.S. military operations in Latin America, said Latin military members of all ranks were receiving training in China.

Craddock said China's increased presence followed a U.S. law that mandated an end to military training in countries that refused to exempt U.S. citizens overseas from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"China's (military) involvement in the region is not extensive theoretically. It could become extensive if we remain absent in several of these key countries. To the degree that we remain present we'll do fine," he said.