China, the largest foreign holder of United States Treasuries, bought more federal bonds in April for the first time since October despite concerns over the US debt level.
China's purchases of US debt rose $7.6 billion to $1.15 trillion - the first month-on-month increase since its holdings reached $1.18 trillion in October, according to the Treasury International Capital report, known as TIC. China boosted its holdings after selling most of its bonds for five straight months.
Overall, foreign nations were net buyers of US long-term securities, with purchases rising by $30.6 billion in April.
An economist calls for the design of 500 yuan ($74) notes to reduce economic losses in the circulation of China's currency RMB, the Yangcheng Evening News reported.
Mao Yushi, an economist in China, said on his micro blog on Tuesday that the 100 yuan note, the largest face value of RMB, requires quadruple counting efforts compared with the 500 yuan note. It also takes up more space, even posing a bigger risk of theft.
Europe will not let the euro fail and European Union countries are committed to cutting deficits, the president of the European Council told Chinese officials on Tuesday, seeking to ease fears that the eurozone crisis could imperil China's investments.
"All EU countries are bringing down public deficits. The most vulnerable countries are undertaking determined action to come out of the crisis," President Herman Van Rompuy said in a speech at the Central Party School in northwest Beijing, which trains rising Chinese leaders.
"I want to acknowledge the confidence that China has demonstrated towards Europe in those difficult moments. A stable eurozone is in our common interest," he said in his prepared remarks to officials studying at the school.
Finance ministers from China, Japan and South Korea said in a joint statement Wednesday they have agreed to start studying the use of their own currencies in trade settlement, the latest sign of Asian efforts to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar.
The ministers from the three big Asian economies also said they are "mindful of" challenges such as growing inflationary pressures in Asia, rising global commodity prices and increasingly volatile capital flows into the region.
Read more: China, Japan, Korea to Study Local-Currency Trade Settlement
The yuan was little changed against the dollar on Wednesday as the Chinese and U.S. administrations reiterated their positions regarding the value of the two countries' currencies ahead of their top-level talks in Washington next week.
In a quarterly monetary policy report late on Tuesday, the People's Bank of China reaffirmed that the government will keep the yuan's exchange rate basically stable - a phrase that implies yuan appreciation against the dollar will be gradual and controlled in line with China's economic conditions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Tuesday that China is starting to let the yuan rise more rapidly to curb inflation but needs to move even more swiftly toward a market-driven exchange rate.
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