Japan to buy $10b in Chinese bonds

Tokyo seeks to strengthen financial cooperation. Japan will go ahead and buy 65 billion yuan ($10.3 billion) in Chinese government debt as part of a push for closer economic ties between Asia's top economies and to take a small step to diversify its vast foreign reserves. Japan and China agreed at a summit in December to strengthen financial cooperation and that included increased use of the yuan and yen in bilateral trade as well as Tokyo's buying of Chinese government bonds. Japan has received Beijing's permission to buy the debt, but it has to carry out some administrative steps before purchases can begin, Finance Minister Jun Azumi said yesterday. "We feel this is an appropriate amount when considering our mutual goal of strengthening economic cooperation between Japan and China," he told reporters. From: Gulfnews