Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold?. 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. We hate you guys. Once you start issuing $1 trillion-$2 trillion [$1,000bn-$2,000bn] …we know the dollar is going to depreciate, so we hate you guys but there is nothing much we can do.
—Luo Ping, Director General at the China Banking Regulatory Commission on 11 Feb 2009.

And there certainly is no shortage of evidence that China’s public complaints about the safety of US financial assets haven’t kept it from buying US Treasuries. … as long as they report their reserves in dollars, holding Treasuries is the one safe choice.
—Brad Setser