SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Investment guru Jim Rogers said he expects a shakeout in China's property market, although he remains bullish on the country's long-term prospects.

"I expect to see some Chinese real estate speculators going broke this year," Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with billionaire George Soros in the 1970s, told the IMAS investment conference in Singapore on Tuesday.

"The government in China has been doing its best to cut back on speculation in real estate and they are serious about it."

Rogers also revealed he had bought "baby stocks" in Japan on expectations that efforts to get Japanese to bear more babies will be successful. In particular, he mentioned the makers of cat character Hello Kitty, owned by Sanrio Co (8136.T).

He also repeated his prediction that the U.S. dollar was set for a major decline as it loses its current status as the world's reserve currency.

He said the United States was already in recession and pointed to its growing indebtedness to other nations, which he said was growing by $1 trillion every 15 months.

"I can tell you that America is out of control."

Rogers also reiterated his long-held belief that a commodities bull run will continue for years, possibly until 2020.

"That bull run will end some day but that someday is a long way off," he said. Rogers was one of the first investors to predict the commodities boom.

(Source)⇒Reuters