BEIJING - Financial risk from China's external debt is controllable overall, despite continuously rising, the foreign exchange regulator said.

All major indicators of the external debt remain within international safety standards, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said on its website.

At the end of 2017, the outstanding external debt stood at $1.71 trillion, an increase of $294.8 billion from one year earlier.

That translated to a debt ratio, or outstanding external debt to GDP ratio, of 14 percent, and the ratio of short-term external debt to foreign exchange reserves was 35 percent, according to the SAFE.

The SAFE attributed the rising external debt to stable economic growth, increasing two-way movement of the yuan exchange rate and the government's policies to facilitate cross-border financing.

It said the country will continue to improve the macro-prudential management policy that focuses on banks and short-term capital flow, preventing risk while better serving the real economy.