Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared in Australia that China's foreign exchange reserve had hit 853.6 billion US dollar by the end of February 2006 in his speech titled China-on the Path of Peaceful Development and for World Peace and Prosperity on April 3, reports Shanghai Securities News Monday.

According to statistics released by Japanese Ministry of Finance, Japan's foreign exchange reserve by the end of February this year stood at 850.1 billion US dollars. Such figure has shown China has surpassed Japan to become the world's No.1 foreign exchange reserve holder.

China's foreign exchange reserve stood at 845.2 billion US dollars in January, up 26.3 billion US dollars and only 6.5 billion US dollars less than that of Japan's, which then recorded the world's largest foreign exchange reserve of 851.7 billion US dollars.

China's foreign exchange reserve has been rising rapidly since 2000, and registered a total of 818.9 billion US dollars by the end of 2005, only next to Japan .

By People's Daily Online