FACTBOX-China, the U.S. Treasury's top foreign creditor

WASHINGTON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have recommended Beijing "dump" some U.S. Treasury bonds to punish the Obama administration for Washington's latest round of planned arms sales to Taiwan.

Luo Yuan, a major general in the People's liberation Army, was quoted in an official publication saying bond sales could be part of a package of economic "counter punches" over the arms sales.
Speculation of how China might use its position as America's top foreign creditor to influence Washington has risen steadily as U.S. deficits have swelled and tensions grow over the restricted valuation of the yuan. Following are some key facts about China's Treasury and dollar asset holdings:
* China's holdings of U.S. Treasury debt dipped to $789.6 billion in November from $798.9 billion, a month-on-month decline of $9.3 billion or 1.1 percent. It remains the largest holder of Treasuries, ahead of Japan, which held $757.3 billion in November.
* China's holdings of Treasuries has nearly doubled in the last two years. Beijing held $421.1 billion in Treasuries in March 2007, before the financial crisis emerged, compared to Japan's $611.2 billion, which made it the largest Treasury debt holder at that time. China's Treasury holdings peaked at $801.5 billion in May 2009.
* China's foreign exchange reserves, the world's largest, rose $453 billion in 2009 to $2.4 trillion. While China does not provide a breakdown of its reserves holdings, analysts believe about two thirds is held in dollar assets. A move to punish the United States by selling Treasuries or other holdings would undoubtedly hurt the value of this stockpile.
* China has attributed about $71 billion of the 2009 reserve gains to changes in foreign exchange rates and rises in asset values, citing in particular gains in non-dollar assets. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has said the appreciation of its non-dollar holdings "has definitely led to growth in outstanding foreign exchange reserves calculated in dollars." Chinese officials also had expressed concerns the dollar's decline last year was hurting its reserves value.
* China held $1.205 trillion worth of U.S. long-term and short term securities, including Treasuries, as of June 2008, according to the Treasury's latest annual data on foreign portfolio holdings. At the end of June 2008, China's forex reserves stood at $1.809 trillion, so the dollar portion stood at almost exactly two thirds at that time.
* China's first purchase of long-term U.S. Treasury bonds and notes from U.S. sources was recorded in March 1985, with gross purchases of $29 million and gross sales to U.S. investors of $11 million that month. China's monthly gross purchases topped $1 billion for the first time in May 1992 and topped $5 billion in September 1996. They exceeded $10 billion in January 2000 and $20 billion in August 2002, peaking at $40.47 billion in June 2009. That same month, China sold $13.85 billion in long-term Treasuries to U.S. investors.
* In November, China's gross long-term Treasury purchases were $28.45 billion with gross sales of $13.51 billion to U.S. investors. Total November purchases of U.S. Treasuries by all foreigners from U.S. sources totaled $1.194 trillion, while sales to U.S. residents were $1.076 trillion.