BEIJING:  In March 2011, China has dropped 97 percent of its holdings in U.S. Treasury bills to $5.69 billion from a peak of $210.4 billion in May 2009, as disclosed by the most recent month reported by the U.S. Treasury.

According to CNS News, “Treasury bills are securities that mature in one year or less that are sold by the U.S. Treasury Department to fund the nation’s debt. Mainland Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasury bills are reported in column 9 of the Treasury report …”

The Chinese have been generally making up for their decreasing holdings in Treasury bills by raising their holdings of longer-term U.S. Treasury securities until October, which means their overall holdings of U.S. debt continued to rise.

As reported by CNS, “prior to the fall of 2008, according to Treasury Department data, Chinese ownership of short-term Treasury bills was modest, standing at only $19.8 billion in August of that year. But when President George W. Bush signed legislation to authorize a $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial industry in October 2008 and President Barack Obama signed a $787-billion economic stimulus law in February 2009, Chinese ownership of short-term U.S. Treasury bills skyrocketed.”

Accordingly by December 2008, China owned $165.2 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, as revealed by the Treasury Department. At the end of March 2009, Chinese Treasury bill holdings were at $191.1 billion. As of May 2009, Chinese holdings of Treasury bills were peaking at $210.4 billion.

To read the entire article from CNS News, link here:

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