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Report: China to stick with US bonds

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-13 10:44

China will continue to buy US Treasury bonds even though it knows the dollar will depreciate, because such investments remain its "only option" in a p erilous world, the Financial Times cited a senior Chinese banking regulator as saying.

Related readings:  China to issue $3.8b treasury bonds  US treasury bonds 'still the best option'  Govt urges banks to buy back bonds

China would continue to buy Treasuries in spite of its misgivings about US finances, Luo Ping, a director-general at the China Banking Regulatory Commission, told the paper after a speech in New York on Wednesday.

"Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold?" Luo was cited by the paper as saying. "Gold? You don't hold Japanese government bonds or UK bonds. US Treasuries are the safe haven. For everyone, including China, it is the only option."

Luo said Chinese officials would encourage its banks to finance domestic mergers and acquisitions rather than provide rescue finance to distressed financial companies in other countries, according to the paper.

"There will be no bottom-fishing of financial institutions, particularly in the US, because there is a lot of uncertainty about the quality of the books," the paper quoted Luo as saying.

Luo said China intends to maintain its separation of investment and commercial banking based on its observations of the United States after repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act that enforced a similar division of banking activities, according to the paper.

"To some extent Glass-Steagall has fueled the crisis," the paper quoted Luo as saying. "The separation of commercial and investment banking is likely to stay longer in China than before."

Luo also spoke out against what he called America's laissez-faire capitalism, the paper said.

"Deregulation in the US has gone a little bit too far. The market can't be omnipotent," Luo said, according to the paper.