Interesting figures:
China has overtaken Japan: it now has the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserves. The combined reserves of the People’s Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority stood at $833 billion at the end of June. By now, given their recent rate of growth, they could be nudging $870 billion-worth, most of this in dollars—well ahead of the $830 billion in Japan’s coffers at the end of last month. Asia as a whole now has a stash of more than $2.5 trillion, two-thirds of the world total, up from $1 trillion in 2000.
Ultimately the Economist blames Americans not saving for its current account deficit, not Asian governments.