A caricature shows that the U.S. welcomes investment from China. [Photo: sznews.com]

Latest official data shows that the United States has become the top destination for China's outbound portfolio investment.

The data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange shows China made 116.7 billion U.S. dollars of portfolio investment in the U.S. by the end of June last year.

This accounts for nearly 41 percent of the total amount of 286.8 billion U.S. dollars in the same period.

Hong Kong was in second place, attracting 49.5 billion dollars, followed by the Cayman Islands with 16.3 billion dollars.

It is the first time the administration has published country-specific figures on outbound portfolio investment, and comes after China formally joined a global survey conducted by the International Monetary Fund at the end of last year.