For more information, please contactcupola@gettysburg.edu. Quint, Ryan T. (2015) Ambrose Burnside, the Ninth Army Corps, and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House,The Gettysburg College. Journal of the Civil War Era: Vol. 5, Article 7.
Updated April 17, 2017. The U.S. debt to China is $1.059 trillion, as of February 2017. That's 27.8 percent of the $3.8 trillion in Treasury bills, notes, and bonds held by foreign countries. The rest of the $19.9 trillion national debt is owned by either the American people or by the U.S. government itself.
In the case of the United States, American debt is a widely held and an extremely desirable asset in the global economy. Whatever debt China does sell is simply purchased by other countries. For instance, in August 2015 China reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasuries by approximately $180 billion.