debt: $51 billion (1989 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 8.0% (1989)
Electricity: 110,000,000 kW capacity; 560,000 million kWh produced, 500 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: iron, steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles, petroleum
Agriculture: accounts for 26% of GNP; among the world's largest producers of rice, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley, and pork; commercial crops include cotton, other fibers, and oilseeds; produces variety of livestock products; basically self-sufficient in food; fish catch of 8 million metric tons in 1986
Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70–87), $220.7 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970–87), $11.1 billion
Currency: yuan (plural—yuan); 1 yuan (Y) = 10 jiao
Exchange rates: yuan (Y) per US$1—4.7221 (January 1990), 3.7651 (1989), 3.7221 (1988), 3.7221 (1987), 3.4528 (1986), 2.9367 (1985)
Fiscal year: calendar year
- Communications Railroads: total about 54,000 km common carrier lines; 53,400 km 1.435-meter standard gauge; 600 km 1.000-meter gauge; all single track except 11,200 km double track on standard-gauge lines; 6,500 km electrified; 10,000 km industrial lines (gauges range from 0.762 to 1.067 meters)
Highways: about 980,000 km all types roads; 162,000 km paved roads, 617,200 km gravel/improved earth roads, 200,800 km unimproved natural earth roads and tracks
Inland waterways: 138,600 km; about 109,800 km navigable
Pipelines: crude, 6,500 km; refined products, 1,100 km; natural gas, 6,200 km
Ports: Dalian, Guangzhou, Huangpu, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai,
Xingang, Zhanjiang, Ningbo
Merchant marine: 1,373 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 13,303,685 GRT/ 20,092,833 DWT; includes 25 passenger, 41 short-sea passenger, 17 passenger-cargo, 7 cargo/training, 766 cargo, 10 refrigerated cargo, 65 container, 17 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 multifunction barge carriers, 173 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 9 chemical tanker, 237 bulk, 2 vehicle carrier, 1 liquefied gas; note—China beneficially owns an additional 175 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling approximately 5,380,415 DWT that operate under the registry of Panama, UK, Hong Kong, Liberia, and Malta
Airports: 330 total, 330 usable; 260 with permanent-surface runways; fewer than 10 with runways over 3,500 m; 90 with runways 2,440–3,659 m; 200 with runways 1,220–2,439 m
Telecommunications: domestic and international services are increasingly available for private use; unevenly distributed internal system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and most townships; 11,000,000 telephones (December 1989); stations—274 AM, unknown FM, 202 (2,050 relays) TV; more than 215 million radio receivers; 75 million TVs; satellite earth stations—4 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT, 1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT, and 55 domestic
- Defense Forces
Branches: Chinese People's Liberation Army (CPLA), CPLA Navy (including
Marines), CPLA Air Force
Military manpower: males 15–49, 330,353,665; 184,515,412 fit for military service; 11,594,366 reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: $5.28 billion (1988)—————————————————————————— Country: Christmas Island (territory of Australia) - Geography Total area: 135 km2; land area: 135 km2
Comparative area: about 0.8 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: none
Coastline: 138.9 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 12 nm;
Continental shelf: 200 meters or to depth of exploitation;
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;
Territorial sea: 3 nm
Climate: tropical; heat and humidity moderated by trade winds
Terrain: steep cliffs along coast rise abruptly to central plateau
Natural resources: phosphate
Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other
Environment: almost completely surrounded by a reef
Note: located along major sea lanes of Indian Ocean
- People
Population: 2,278 (July 1990), growth rate 0.0% (1990)
Birth rate: NA births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: NA deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: NA migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: NA deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: NA years male, NA years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: NA children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Christmas Islander(s), adjective—Christmas Island
Ethnic divisions: 61% Chinese, 25% Malay, 11% European, 3% other; no indigenous population
Religion: NA
Language: English
Literacy: NA%
Labor force: NA; all workers are employees of the Phosphate Mining
Company of Christmas Island, Ltd.
Organized labor: NA
- Government
Long-form name: Territory of Christmas Island
Type: territory of Australia
Capital: The Settlement
Administrative divisions: none (territory of Australia)
Independence: none (territory of Australia)
Constitution: Christmas Island Act of 1958
Legal system: under the authority of the governor general of Australia
National holiday: NA
Executive branch: British monarch, governor general of Australia, administrator, Advisory Council (cabinet)
Legislative branch: none
Judicial branch: none
Leaders:
Chief of State—Queen ELIZABETH II (since
