11, vehicle carrier 10foreign-owned: 9 (Hong Kong 4, Japan 2, South Korea 2, United States
1)
registered in other countries: 872 (2005)
Airports:
472 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 383
over 3,047 m: 53
2,438 to 3,047 m: 116
1,524 to 2,437 m: 141
914 to 1,523 m: 23
under 914 m: 50 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 89
over 3,047 m: 5
2,438 to 3,047 m: 4
1,524 to 2,437 m: 13
914 to 1,523 m: 32
under 914 m: 35 (2004 est.)
Heliports:
15 (2004 est.)
Military China
Military branches:
People's Liberation Army (PLA): Ground Forces, Navy (includes
marines and naval aviation), Air Force (includes Airborne Forces),
and II Artillery Corps (strategic missile force); People's Armed
Police Force (internal security troops considered to be an adjunct
to the PLA); Militia (2003)
Military service age and obligation: 18–22 years of age for compulsory military service, with 24-month service obligation; no minimum age for voluntary service; 17 years of age for women who meet requirements for specific military jobs (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18–49: 342,956,265 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18–49: 281,240,272 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 13,186,433 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$67.49 billion (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
4.3% (2004)
Transnational Issues China
Disputes - international: in 2005, China and India initiate drafting principles to resolve all aspects of their extensive boundary and territorial disputes together with a security and foreign policy dialogue to consolidate discussions related to the boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, and other matters; recent talks and confidence-building measures have begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; about 90,000 ethnic Tibetan exiles reside primarily in India as well as Nepal and Bhutan; China asserts sovereignty over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea" has eased tensions in the Spratlys but is not the legally binding "code of conduct" sought by some parties; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord on marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands; China occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; China and Taiwan have become more vocal in rejecting both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of Senkaku-shoto (Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon prospecting; certain islands in the Yalu and Tumen rivers are in an uncontested dispute with North Korea and a section of boundary around Mount Paektu is considered indefinite; China seeks to stem illegal migration of tens of thousands of North Koreans; in 2004, China and Russia divided up the islands in the Amur, Ussuri, and Argun Rivers, ending a century-old border dispute; demarcation of the China-Vietnam boundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime boundary delimitation and fisheries agreements were ratified in June 2004, implementation has been delayed; environmentalists in Burma and Thailand remain concerned about China's construction of hydroelectric dams upstream on the Nujiang/Salween River in Yunnan Province
Refugees and internally displaced persons: refugees (country of origin): 299,287 (Vietnam) estimated 30,000–50,000 (North Korea) (2004)
Illicit drugs:
major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden
Triangle; growing domestic drug abuse problem; source country for
chemical precursors and methamphetamine
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Christmas Island
Introduction Christmas Island
Background:
Named in 1643 for the day of its discovery, the island was annexed
and settlement was begun by the UK in 1888. Phosphate mining began
in the 1890s. The UK transferred sovereignty to Australia in 1958.
Almost two-thirds of the island has been declared a national park.
Geography Christmas Island
Location:
Southeastern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of Indonesia
Geographic coordinates:
10 30 S, 105 40 E
Map references:
Southeast Asia
Area:
total: 135 sq km
land: 135 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative:
about three-quarters the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries:
0 km
Coastline:
138.9 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Climate:
