China's foreign debt rises to US$765bn

China's outstanding foreign debt hit 764.97 billion U.S. dollars by the end of March, up from 736.99 billion U.S. dollars at the end of 2012, the country's forex regulator said Friday. The country's outstanding long- and medium-term foreign debt stood at 199.29 billion U.S. dollars, up from 196.06 billion U.S. dollars at the end of December, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAE) said in a statement on its website quoted by Xinhua news agency. Outstanding short-term foreign debt, due within one year, rose to 565.68 billion U.S. dollars from 540.93 billion U.S. dollars at the end of last year, it said. The SAE said risks incurred by the increase in China's short-term foreign debt are controllable, as the debt is mainly trade-related and the ratios of short-term foreign debt to the country's foreign trade and foreign exchange reserves remain small.