Economists in China say the U.S. securities are the best way to deploy China's foreign exchange reserves of $1.9 trillion, the highest in the world.

A report Thursday in the China Daily quoted U.S. Treasury Department figures showing China replaced Japan in September as the top holder of U.S. debt with $585 billion, compared to Japan's $573 billion.

Analysts told China Daily the data suggested foreign investors still regard the United States as a relatively better place to invest when markets worldwide are crumbling.

The report said with the worsening of the U.S. financial crisis, some Chinese experts feel the country should not use its foreign exchange reserves to purchase more U.S. debt. However, Dong Yuping, senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "But China may not have many options."

He said the U.S. economy still remains the largest and the strongest, compared with the European Union and Japan.

The report said if China were to reduce its U.S. debt holdings, others would do the same. That, in turn, would weaken the greenback and dollar-denominated assets, severely hurting China's interests.

"You may not like it, but China has to move along this path," Yan Qifa, senior economist with the Export-Import Bank of China, was quoted as saying.