Central bank: Dollar assets key part of China's reserves
Dollar assets form an important part of its foreign exchange reserves and the US currency plays a prominent role in the global monetary system, China's central bank said Sunday.
The comments, made to the Xinhua news agency by an unidentified central bank official, follow a report last week by a British newspaper suggesting that Beijing could dump its vast dollar holdings if a trade war broke out with Washington.
"US dollar assets, including American government bonds, are an important component of China's foreign exchange reserves as the dollar enjoys a major position in the international monetary system based on the large capacity and high liquidity of US financial markets," Xinhua quoted the official as sayin
Britain's Daily Telegraph said on Wednesday that "the Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States," and was hinting that it might liquidate its holdings of US Treasuries if Washington imposed trade sanctions.
The story caused a stir in global markets. US President George W. Bush said China would be foolhardy to dump dollars, while the top Republican on the US Senate Finance Committee wrote to the Chinese ambassador seeking clarification.
Asked about newspaper report, the central bank official said: "China is a responsible investor in the international capital markets."
His comments follow concerted liquidity injections on Thursday and Friday by global central banks to soothe investors' fears that spreading losses stemming from investments in subprime US mortgages could snowball into a global credit crunch.
Restating official policy, the official said Beijing's priorities in managing its $1.33 trillion in foreign currency reserves were safety, liquidity and investment returns.
据周日中国人民银行有关消息，美元资产是中国外汇储备的重要成分，美元在全球金融体系中的地位举足轻重。
上述评论来源于央行某官员在新华社记者的采访中提到，紧随其后英国一家报社在上周发表了一篇报道，建议一旦中美双方爆发贸易战争，中国方面可以一举抛售其大量的美元资产。
新华社引用该官员的话称，只要美元能够凭借美国金融市场的大容量和高流通性保持其在国际货币体系中的主要地位，那么包括美国国债在内的美元资产将持续是中国外汇储备中非常重要的组成部分。
据英国每日电讯报周三的报道，“中国政府已经开始了一场巨大的反对美国的经济威胁运动”，并表示若美国方面施加贸易制裁，中国央行将有可能抛售其手中的美元资产。
该报道引起了国际市场的轰动。美国总统乔治＊W＊布什称中国抛售美元的行为过于鲁莽，与此同时美国参议院金融委员会最高官员写信给中国大使以澄清此事。
中国央行官员在被问及该篇报道时称，中国在国际资本市场上是一个有责任心的投资者。
全球许多央行在周四和周五纷纷流入巨大的资金以安抚投资者的恐惧，投资者们都担心他们在美国抵押贷款中的投资造成并不断扩大的损失将像滚雪球一样越来越大并最终引发全球信用危机。
中国央行官员在重申其官方政策后称，中国方面管理其外汇储备中1万3千3百亿的美元储备的优先原则是安全性、流通性以及投资收益。
