China's external financial assets expanded 17 percent from a year earlier to 3.4601 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of 2009, boosted by its increased foreign exchange reserves and overseas investment, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said Tuesday.

According to 2009 year-end figures on China's international investment position (IIP) released by the SAFE, China's external liabilities rose 12 percent year on year to 1.6381 trillion dollars while net external financial assets climbed 22 percent to 1.8219 trillion dollars in 2009.

About 71 percent of China's external financial assets were its 2.4513 trillion dollars foreign exchange reserve, according to the SAFE.

China's 229.6 billion dollars of direct investment overseas, 242.8 billion dollars of securities portfolio investment and 536.5 billion dollars of other unspecified investments made up the rest the country's financial assets.

In terms of China's foreign financial liabilities, direct investment by other countries or regions in China totaled 997.4 billion dollars, securities portfolio investment reached 190 billion dollars and other unspecified investment stood at 450.8 billion dollars.

Representing the difference between a country's domestically owned foreign assets and foreign owned domestic assets, IIP reflects the financial assets and liabilities of one country or region compared to other countries or regions.

The SAFE released its first IIP report for year-end 2005 in 2006.