The Heritage Foundation has produced a very useful set of charts on the United States and Asia in advance of Hu Jintao's visit. It's a great little package for those who like pictures and data together.
The data help clear up some things that are often misunderstood or misrepresented in the media, namely:
- American companies invest far more abroad than does all of Asia combined.
- For every dollar the U.S. has invested in China it has invested two in Australia and two in Japan.
- Less than half of what Asia invests in government bonds comes from China.
- The American economy is larger than China’s and Japan’s combined.
Those are fairly good news points we don't often hear about. And while we hear a lot about the massive share of US debt held by China, we often don't know how to put it in perspective. The Heritage report says that half of US debt is privately held, half is held by foreign investors, and of the foreign investors, China holds half. This chart showing how much US debt is held by Asia is one of the most interesting in the group:
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