China slices US debt holdings amid currency row

WASHINGTON: China has cut its massive US Treasury bond holdings to the lowest level in at least nine months, data has showed as Beijing resisted persistent US pressure to revalue its currency.

Beijing sliced its holdings to $877.5 billion in February, down $11.5 billion from January, but remained the top holder of American government debt, according to the Treasury Department's latest figures on international capital flows.

It was the fourth consecutive monthly drop in Chinese holdings and marked the lowest level since June last year, when China held $915.8 billion in bonds.

But China remained far ahead as the top Treasury bond holder, followed by Japan, which held $768.5 billion in February, and third-placed Britain at $231.7 billion, according to the figures.



Beijing's action came as the United States continued to push China to readjust its currency, charging that it was keeping the yuan undervalued to gain a trade advantage over its competitors.

US lawmakers, facing election-year pressure, have threatened sanctions against China, saying the allegedly undervalued yuan had resulted in a ballooning US trade deficit and a loss of American jobs.

President Barack Obama this week pushed Chinese leader Hu Jintao to act on the prickly issue, on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington.

Hu however delinked the yuan's value from the US trade deficit or the nearly 10 per cent unemployment rate gripping the United States.