China is one of the largest foreign holders of US debt, currently owning around $1.1 trillion of US Treasury securities. This represents around 6.2% of all US Treasury securities held by foreign governments.
However, China also holds a significant amount of other US assets, including US corporate bonds and US stocks. According to the US Department of Treasury, China for example owned $50.4 billion in equities and $33.2 billion in corporate bonds as of July 2020.
In addition to the US Treasury securities, China also owns some US physical assets. This includes real estate, which is the largest increase in foreign purchases in the US since 2013, primarily from Chinese buyers.
According to the National Association of Realtors, Chinese purchasers made up 4.1% of all existing home sales in the United States as of April 2019. Other physical assets include investments in technology companies, as well as automotive and manufacturing facilities.
Overall, China’s ownership of US assets is significant, but is dwarfed by US holdings of foreign assets. The size of China’s stake in the US economy is around $1.5 trillion according to estimates, representing around 5% of US GDP.
This amount is relatively small compared to the amount of US assets invested around the world, which reached a record high of $29.3 trillion in 2019.
What percentage of US land is owned by China?
No exact figure is available, but it is estimated that China owns less than 1% of US land. According to a report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS), China owns a large portfolio of financial assets, such as stocks, bonds, and private equity, in the United States.
As of 2019, this was estimated to be about $1.4 trillion. However, direct ownership of real-estate––including the land––remains a very small proportion of the total financial assets held by China in the US.
The CRS report notes that, as of 2019, Chinese investors accounted for less than 1% of US foreign direct investment. This suggests that Chinese ownership of US land is less than 1%.
Additionally, the advancement of the China-US trade war has made investors less willing to enter the US market, meaning Chinese companies have largely stopped investing in the US, making it unlikely that China has recently acquired or made large investments in US land.
It is difficult to accurately estimate the amount of land China currently owns in the US, however, it is certain that their ownership of real-estate, including land, is minimal.