China hopes US will ensure security of Chinese assets

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-19 19:33

BEIJING - China hopes the United States will guarantee the security of the Chinese assets and investments in the US, China's Foreign Ministry reiterated on Thursday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang made the remarks in response to a question on the decision of the US Federal Reserve Wednesday to spend up to US$300 billion to buy long-term government bonds and expand purchases of mortgage-related debt to revive the economy.

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"We have noticed that the US government has taken a series of measures recently to spur its economy," said Qin, adding the effectiveness of the measures should be tested by practice.

Qin said China hoped the measures would take effect as soon as possible so as to speed up the recovery of the US economy as well as the healthy and stable development of the world economy, including China's.

China's foreign exchange reserves hit a record US$1.95 trillion at the end of 2008, the largest in the world and far exceeding that of Japan, the second-largest foreign exchange holder with US$1.03 trillion.

China has invested its huge foreign exchange reserves in low-risk but low-yield assets, such as US government bonds.

According to the US Treasury, China held US$681.9 billion worth of US government bonds as of November.