Chinese investors bought a net Y541bn ($6.2bn) of Japanese government bonds in the first four months of the year amid concerns over Europe's debt woes.
Analysts said the scale of the buying – more than double the full-year record of Y253.8bn in 2005 – was notable compared with the rate of increase in China's foreign exchange reserves in the first quarter.
Data from the People's Bank of China revealed that the country's FX reserves grew by $48bn in the first three months of the year. Assuming that the PBoC continued to accumulate reserves at the same pace, this implies that purchase of JGBs accounted for nearly 10 per cent of new reserves.