China Foreign Reserves

China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at 3,465,270,447,677.20 in 2025, retaining the world‑leading position despite a gradual decline from the all‑time peak of 3,900,039,302,991.09 recorded in 2014. The reserve stock has fallen from the early‑stage trough of 4,449,800,000.00 in 1978, when China first began to accumulate foreign assets, to a more than 10‑fold increase by the late 1970s, reflecting successive export‑led growth phases and capital controls. Over the 49‑year coverage period, China’s reserves remain roughly three times larger than Japan’s 1,180,467,778,628.50 and nearly four times the United States’ 933,108,061,932.84, underscoring the scale of its external buffer. The post‑2014 drawdown has been linked to a combination of currency diversification, debt repayments and a modest shift toward a more open capital account. Continued pressure from a rebalancing of trade surpluses and potential policy adjustments to liberalise capital flows could further shape the trajectory of China’s reserve holdings.