The People's Bank of China regularly reports official gold reserve data. However, analysts believe actual purchases are much larger. According to Goldman Sachs, China's gold purchases in November 2025 reached about 1,000 tonnes—11 times the official figures. This discrepancy confirms long-standing suspicions of hidden reserve accumulation by Beijing.
The gap between import statistics and official data is due to part of the gold being stored in state reserves without public accounting. Chinese experts explain that sudden disclosure of real reserves would sharply raise gold prices, making future purchases more expensive and confusing potential adversaries' strategic calculations.
After the 2022 events and the freezing of Russia's reserves by Western countries, China is even more cautious about its reserve structure, as large dollar holdings can be blocked by sanctions. More economists and analytics centers now recommend decreasing dollar holdings and accumulating gold, which cannot be frozen by sanctions and remains under state control.
Officially, gold accounts for just 4% of China's foreign exchange reserves, while in the US it's about 70%. This imbalance gives China significant room to further increase gold reserves without breaking asset diversification principles.
China is also developing infrastructure for an alternative financial system, such as the Shanghai Gold Exchange and platforms for trade in national currencies without using the dollar. Transparency for central banks’ gold purchases worldwide has dropped: less than a third of such transactions are declared to the IMF.
The hidden growth of gold reserves is seen as a strategic preparation for possible Western sanctions, especially given rising tensions over Taiwan. Gold is viewed as an insurance asset independent of the dollar system and key to economic independence in case of open conflict.