China Trains Sight on More U.S. Treasury Purchases, Report Says
America is struggling economically but China believes that Treasuries offered by the United States government are much safer than other global equities or the Euro, the currency used in majority of European economies.
The ongoing financial and debt crisis wracking major Euro nations seemed to have turned away the world's second biggest economy from investing its huge foreign reserves in Europe and instead opted to stick it out with the U.S., according to a report published on Tuesday by the official People's Daily.
Citing a report completed by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the state publication said that Beijing has embraced the notion that its investments are better off remaining on U.S. Treasuries as the Euro offers unsettling prospects at this time.
"The U.S. dollar is relatively safer than the euro because of the unfolding sovereign debt crisis in Europe," lead researcher Yan Xiaona was quoted by the People's Daily as saying on the government-commissioned economic report.
The assessment, according to a report by Reuters, signals China's continued patronage of U.S. Treasuries despite America itself trying to extricate from economic stagnation and political bickering that invited a credit downgrade from Standard & Poor' in early August this year.
That spectre, market analysts said, almost pushed the U.S. economy into the brink of another recession, which only last week stared at record high levels of unemployment rate.
Notwithstanding, China seemed to ignore America's not-so-rosy economic indicators as the country's Finance Ministry announced this week its plan of purchasing new U.S. Treasuries holdings.
"What else we can buy if not U.S. Treasuries? It's more risky to buy into equities," a ministry researcher was quoted by Reuters as saying in explaining Beijing's move.
With the decision, economists are projecting that China may end up with as much as $3 trillion worth of U.S. treasuries over the next three years, which would add up to its current foreign reserves that experts said already breached the $3 trillion mark, majority of which in the form of U.S.-dominated assets.