It’s one of the top stories on all the financial news sites:

China “worried” about US Treasury holdings - AP
China “worried” about safety of U.S. Treasuries - IHT
White House Seeks to Reassure China U.S. Debt Safe, Deficits Under Control - Bloomberg
China’s premier worried for U.S. investments

Most analysts estimate that China has $1 trillion invested in U.S. Treasuries and notes. That’s roughly half of its currency reserves… And if China decides to sell them - at least, if they sell them all at once - it could slash T-bill values.

That would ultimately slash creditor’s reserves, though, which would be a little like self-mutilation.

I’m not alone in thinking that the move away from T-bills will be more like blood-letting than amputation… And some emerging markets are actually still interested in buying U.S. Treasuries.

Russia, for instance. On March 4, 2009, Russia became the 5th largest U.S. creditor with a total of $116 billion in U.S. T-bills in its coffers.

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I’ve been writing about Central and Eastern Europe a little bit recently for Taipan Insider, and I decided to take a trip down memory lane.

As you know, on my trips, I take a lot of pictures. Sometimes it’s hard to share them all with you, so we’ve created a Flickr account to post them all… Well, most of them, anyway. I’ve still got some photos from my trip to Vietnam and Singapore, and from Spain and Morocco to post, but you can find my Eastern Europe trip and my South America trip already posted.

I’ll also be taking the video camera and digital camera to South Africa, which is my next trip early next month. Like trip South America trip I’ll be compiling an in-depth investment video for you, but don’t forget to check out any photos on the Flickr site.

And feel free to send along any comments or questions! Use the form on the blog, or email me at insider@taipanpublishinggroup.com.

I had lunch with the Taipan Publishing Group’s executive publisher, Sandy Franks, today. I collaborate with Sandy on my Taipan Insider articles that come out every Tuesday and Thursday.

We talked about my next trip… I’d been considering Australia, and contributing editor Archie Bayvel has offered to help me put together some great contacts, but he said I’d have to be nuts to come visit during “The Wet.” So I’ve pushed that trip back.

In the meantime, South Africa is on my radar.

In the past few days, I’ve seen a number of negative articles about Africa:

• Botswana Diamond Firm Shuts Mines
• South Africa Sees Economy Shrink
• Zambian Miners Hit by Copper Slump
• Wilting Flower Ecports Hit Zambia
• Economic Ill Winds Hitting Africa

So my goal will be to find out how South Africa, the economic hub and biggest market south of the Sahara, is fairing. South Africa is supposed to be hosting the World Cup in 2010. That means a lot of hotel construction and infrastructure investments. I have to say, there’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not the country will be ready in time, but tickets have already gone on sale, and there’s no turning back.

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Base metals are trending higher today… Copper, Lead, Nickel, Zinc… all green. And each metal is showing signs of bottoming out after nine months of falling prices.

In fact, most base metals have been trading range-bound (meaning practically flat) since the start of 2009. Copper is actually starting to trend higher. Copper is considered an economic canary… When prices fall, economies are in for a slump. When prices rise, economies tend to become stronger.

Why? It all has to do with industrial growth. When economies are strong, they build things like factories, power plants, schools, and other infrastructure. That takes a lot of copper and other base metals.

Which is why, when China announced it could provide another stimulus package - like the $586 billion it issued last year to sustain industrial growth, commodity prices and commodity companies climbed in value.

But just yesterday, China announced it would not boost stimulus spending unless the economy showed it was necessary, and right now, China’s economy seems to be recovering slightly.

Exports are growing again, and China will continue to grow its GDP this year.

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