China has recently started selling off US Treasuries again, and has been selling them off for seven consecutive months. According to the latest report released by the U.S. Treasury Department, China's holdings of U.S. bonds remain at only $769.6 billion, with a cumulative amount of $97.5 billion since the beginning of this year, the lowest level since 2009.
However, this data is as of October, with a two-month delay. In fact, China may have been selling US bonds for more than 15 months, perhaps even more than two years.
In the middle of last year, there were two increases in China's holdings of U.S. bonds, but the increase was very small, which may not have been intentional, but related to the fact that the U.S. debt was **small** at that time. Although it is uncertain whether it was in a state of net selling at that time, combined with the changes in US bonds, it is very likely that China has always been in the US bonds.
At the same time, Japan's holdings of U.S. debt increased by $11.8 billion to 1$098.2 billion. Since the beginning of this year, Japan's holdings have increased or decreased many times, and there is no obvious direction. In March, Japan's holdings increased sharply, then decreased in the following months, but then increased again.
6 August was in a sell-off for three consecutive months, and then in September there was a significant increase in value. This fluctuation may well illustrate Japan's hesitation. For China, regardless of what other countries do, China's strategy is very clear: it keeps selling US bonds while increasing its holdings**.
China's continued sell-off of U.S. debt and Japan's hesitation have sparked speculation and concern. The differences in the strategies of China and Japan highlight the different choices and considerations of different countries in responding to changes in the international environment.