China says U.S. debt levels are a concern

BEIJING May 20 (Reuters) - China is concerned about U.S. debt levels and hopes that its fiscal deficits will decline as its growth recovers, a senior Chinese financial official said on Thursday.

China has also noted that U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have said they will keep an eye on debt levels, Chinese Assistant Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told a news conference in Beijing ahead of a strategic and economic dialogue with the United States next week.

Zhu is among the Chinese officials organising the meeting.

China is the world's largest holder of U.S. Treasuries with $895.2 billion. It added to its stockpile in March for the first time in seven months.

Chinese officials, including Premier Wen Jiabao, last year prodded the Obama administration to avoid pursuing fiscal policies that could erode the value of those treasury holdings. (Reporting by Chris Buckley and Wang Lan; Editing by Ken Wills)