WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Japan remained the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries in July, with its holdings at the highest level in nearly three years, U.S. Treasury Department said Tuesday.

Japan's holdings of U.S. Treasuries increased 7.9 billion U.S. dollars in July to reach 1.1308 trillion dollars, according to data from the department. China, meanwhile, held 1.1103 trillion dollars of U.S. Treasuries, a slight drop of 2.2 billion dollars from the previous month.

Japan surpassed China to become the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries in June, after boosting its holdings by 21.9 billion dollars in the month.

Combined, the two Asian countries still held more than one third of the total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries in July, the department's data showed.

Overall, foreign holders of U.S. Treasuries had 6.6305 trillion dollars of government debt in July, down 5.8 billion dollars from the previous month.