BEIJING, June 16 [Xinhua] - For the first time in more than one year, China (reduced) its holding of U.S. Treasury (bonds), and experts told Xinhua Tuesday that move reflected concern over the safety of U.S.-dollar-linked assets.

 Data from the U.S. Treasury showed China pared its (stake) in Treasury bonds by 4.4 billion U.S. dollars, to 763.5 billion U.S. dollars, as of the end of April compared (with) March.

 Tan Yaling, an expert at the China Institute for Financial Derivatives (at) Peking University, told Xinhua that the move (might) reflect activity by China's institutional investors. "It was a rather small (amount) compared with the holdings of more than 700 billion U.S. dollars."

 "It is unclear (whether) the reduction will continue because the amount is so small. But the cut signals caution of governments or institutions (toward) U.S. Treasury bonds," Zhang Bin, researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government (think tank), told Xinhua.

 He added that the (weakening) U.S. dollar posed a threat to the holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds. The U.S. government began to increase currency (supply) through purchases of Treasury bonds and other bonds in March, which raised concern among investors about the creditworthiness of U.S. Treasury bonds. The move (also) dented investor confidence in the U.S. dollar and dollar-linked assets.

 China, the (biggest) holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, is highly exposed. In March, Premier Wen Jiabao called on the United States "to (guarantee) the safety of China's assets."

 China is not the only nation that trimmed holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds in April: Japan, Russian and Brazil did (likewise), to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar.

 However, Tan said that U.S. Treasury bonds (were) still a good investment choice.

 Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said in March that U.S. Treasury bonds played a very important (role) in China's investment of its foreign exchange reserves. China would continue to buy the bonds (while) keeping an eye on fluctuations.

 Zhang said it would take months to see if China would (lower) its stake. Even so, any reduction would not be large, or international (financial) markets would be shaken, he said.

 Wang Yuanlong, researcher with the Bank of China, said the (root) of the problem was the years of trade surpluses, which created the huge (amount) of foreign exchange reserves in China. It left China's assets tethered to the U.S. dollar, he said.

 He said making the Renminbi a global (currency) would cut China's demand for the U.S. dollar and reduce its proportion in the (trade) surplus.

Question)
1. How do you think of China’s holding the biggest U.S. treasury bonds?
2. How do you think of Sino-US relationship in 21st century?