China Dumps Record $143 Billion In US Treasurys In Three Months Via Belgium

• China Dumps Record $143 Billion In US Treasurys In Three Months Via Belgium
  by Tyler Durden, www.zerohedge.com  
  When the latest Treasury International Capital data was released yesterday, many were quick to conclude that not only had China’s selling of US Treasury ceased, but that with the addition of $7 billion in US government paper, China’s latest total holdings of $1270.3 billion were the highest since May of 2014. And if one was merely looking at the “China” line item in the major foreign holders table, that would be correct.
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  However, as we have shown before, when looking at China’s Treasury holdings, one also has to add the “Belgian” Treasuries, which is where China had been anonymously engaging in a record buying spree via the local Euroclear, starting in late 2013, which however concluded with a bang in early 2015. This is what we said last month:
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  * “Belgium” is, or rather, was a front for China: either SAFE, CIC, or the PBOC itself. 
  * That Belgium’s holdings, after soaring as high as $381 billion a year ago, have since tumbled as China has dumped the bulk of its Euroclear custody holdings, and that once this number is back to its historical level of around $170-$180 billion, “Belgium” will again be just Belgium.
  * China’s foreign reserves plunged concurrently and this was offset by a the biggest quarterly drop in Chinese pro-forma treasury holdings, which dropped by a record $72 billion in the month of March, and a record $113 billion for the quarter. 
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