There is a difference between national debt and national debt. The difference lies in the terminology. The term of national debt is medium and long term, and the term of national debt is short term. Treasury bill is also a kind of national debt, but it refers to short-term national debt, also known as short-term treasury bill. National debt is a bond issued by the state in the general sense as understood by the public.

Treasury bills are generally bonds that the country chooses to issue in order to meet the temporary capital demand, and are generally classified as short-term money market instruments; Treasury bonds are generally funds raised for construction needs or fiscal revenue and expenditure adjustment, and the bond contract will stipulate that the funds will exist for a long time. Generally attributed to capital market financial instruments.

Of course, both national debt and treasury bonds are legally binding creditor-debtor contracts issued and endorsed by the state and then raised funds from the society. If investors hold it, they can enjoy the low risk of national debt and the annual interest rate higher than the bank deposit in the same period. Therefore, when the national debt is issued, it will often be snapped up by investors with low risk preference, and for a long time, it will generally be used by institutions to form a portfolio or as safe investment capital.

For example, fund companies will choose treasury bonds as fund targets, but the specific names are different. Although people generally refer to the funds holding treasury bonds or treasury bonds as treasury bonds funds, in the official classification, funds with treasury bonds as the target are classified as monetary funds; Funds with medium and long-term national debt as the target are classified as bond funds. In addition, if a bond fund invests in various bonds issued by countries with different maturities and different interest rates, it can also be called a pure debt fund with national debt as the target. However, no matter what kind of investment products or methods are derived from the national debt, the risk is still quite low.

However, it cannot be said that all the national debt in the world is low-risk. The above is just the national debt issued by our country. After all, China's high credibility is well-known in the world. Not only domestic investors, but also a large number of foreign investors come to invest and hold our national debt. If it is a country or region with a bad reputation, the risk of bonds issued by it in the nature of national debt will still be high.