An American friend recently e-mailed me some cartoons on the theme that, with its huge holdings of US debt and foreign exchange dollars, China will soon "own" the United States.

One cartoon shows the US Treasury Department building with a Chinese pagoda-style roof, while a second depicts a chagrined President Obama holding a state banquet for his Chinese counterpart with a McDonalds economy meal as the only fare – prompting his visitor to say, "Look, if you need to borrow more money, just say so."

While designed to raise a smile, the cartoons do reflect real American concerns about the growing economic power of China.

Symbolic of this is the fact that it owns 12.7 percent of America's public debt (treasury notes), according to the IMF. In 2008, the magazine Atlantic Monthly calculated that every American citizen had, in effect, borrowed $4,000 from the Chinese, who it said, "were subsidizing the American way of life and encouraging Americans to live beyond their means."

Continuous trade surpluses, meanwhile, have also swelled China's dollar holdings with 70 percent of the foreign reserves in the American currency.

Agreed; but this needs to be put into a proper perspective.

The cartoons reminded me of the "Japan as Number One" furore that erupted in the 1990s when cash-rich Japanese companies were buying up iconic American corporate properties (Sony Corp., of example, buying Columbia Pictures). The dire language in the US press was similar: Japan may end up "owning" the United States. However, when the Japanese economy ran into the problems that continue today, a struggling Sony Corp. had to sell off a lot of its US assets.

It is true that China has, in recent years, been investing more and more overseas, following the long lead of the West's economically developed countries. However, China's approach has been somewhat more cautious, emphasizing such "safe", if low interest yielding, investments as US treasury notes.

According to the American think-tank The Heritage Foundation: "The PRC's outward investment is concentrated in energy and other natural resources. When engineering and construction contracts are included, China has a fairly balanced global profile, but South America has become the main area of interest. State-owned firms the dominant investors."

Apart from the computer company Lenovo's 2004 purchase of IBM's personal computer unit, China's investors do not appear to have found a really welcoming home in the United States.

In part, this is because of hostility in Congress and elsewhere. In August 2007, for example, America's leading public finance watchdog warned the economy was vulnerable to hostile financial actions by nations that are not its "allies."

David Walker, the US comptroller (auditor) general, said the huge holdings of American government debt by countries such as China, Saudi Arabia and Libya could leave a powerful financial weapon in the hands of countries that may be hostile to US corporate and diplomatic interests.

This, the Heritage Foundation suggests, is misguided and that the US should be more rational and welcoming when dealing with the Chinese commercial presence overseas.