China’s Years-Long Retreat From US Treasuries Flags Bigger Risks

WATCH: Chinese regulators have advised financial institutions to rein in their holdings of US Treasuries, citing concerns over concentration risks and market volatility, according to people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg’s Minmin Low reports.Source: Bloomberg

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By Ye Xie, Ruth Carson and Tian Chen

February 11, 2026 at 12:15 AM UTC

Updated on

February 11, 2026 at 10:44 AM UTC

The slump in Treasuries after China’s latest call to curb its holdings was fleeting, but it put a spotlight on Beijing’s decade-long shift from US debt and rekindled fears about a broader, global retreat.

A look at the data on China’s Treasury holdings suggests why traders were so quick to move on from the report that Beijing had urged Chinese banks to limit their Treasury purchases. Once the largest foreign lender to the US government, China has quietly halved its holdings of Treasuries since 2013 — and investors appear to have decided the latest headlines fit that trend.