China may own over $1.13 trillion of US debt

China celebrates its 90th year of Communist rule today; but in the background, the nation is playing deeply capitalist games with international debts. China owns a large portion of US debt, but a Reuters investigation shows that they may have more than the Treasury could previously report. By buying up US debt through internationally disparate financial intermediaries, Chinese entities hid exactly how much US debt they had acquired — estimates say it is above $1.13 trillion.

Steven Dunaway, adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and formerly the deputy director of the Asia Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund, and BBC correspondent Michael Bristow give some insights — use audio player above to listen to full story.

Read Reuters investigation.

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