The newly-issued US Treasury International Capital (TIC) data shows that up to the end of September, 2008, China holds US$585 billion of US treasury bonds, replacing Japan in becoming the biggest US bonds holder.
China's holding of US treasury bonds increased by US$ 43.6 billion in September 2008. In the first three quarters of the year, China invested in a total of US$107.4 billion of US bonds. The former number one holder Japan decreased its share from US$586 billion to US $573.2 billion; Britain comes third, holding US$338.4 billion.
China has steadily increased its holding of US treasury bonds because the US short-term treasury bond is regaining the favor of international investors and the US dollar has appreciated significantly against other currencies, commented Zhang Ming, an expert from the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP), Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Analysts say that it is hard to tell whether the US dollar can maintain its strong tendency, but as its share of US treasury bonds increases and its currency rises on foreign exchanges, China should exert more effort to adjust its assets structure.
Fore more details, please read the full story in Chinese:
http://paper.cs.com.cn/html/2008-11/19/content_19679445.htm
(China.org.cn by Fan Junmei November 19, 2008)
