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GEOGRAPHY
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Related
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CHINA
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Partners
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Location:
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Eastern Asia, bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow
Sea, and South China Sea, between North Korea and Vietnam |
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Geographic
Coordinates:
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35 00 N, 105 00 E |
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Map
References:
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Asia
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Area:
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total:
9,596,960 sq km
land: 9,326,410 sq km
water: 270,550 sq km |
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Area
- Comparative:
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slightly
smaller than the US |
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Land
Boundaries:
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total:
22,143.34 km
border countries: Afghanistan 76 km, Bhutan 470 km, Burma 2,185
km, Hong Kong 30 km, India 3,380 km, Kazakhstan 1,533 km, North
Korea 1,416 km, Kyrgyzstan 858 km, Laos 423 km, Macau 0.34 km,
Mongolia 4,673 km, Nepal 1,236 km, Pakistan 523 km, Russia (northeast)
3,605 km, Russia (northwest) 40 km, Tajikistan 414 km, Vietnam
1,281 km |
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Coastline:
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14,500
km |
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Maritime
Claims:
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contiguous
zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
territorial sea: 12 nm |
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Climate:
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extremely diverse; tropical in south to subarctic in north |
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Terrain:
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mostly
mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west; plains, deltas, and
hills in east |
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Land
Use:
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arable
land: 10%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 43%
forests and woodland: 14%
other: 33% (1993 est.) |
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Irrigated
Land :
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498,720
sq km (1993 est.) |
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Natural
Hazards:
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frequent
typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts);
damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts |
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Environment
- Current Issues:
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air
pollution (greenhouse gases, sulfur dioxide particulates) from
reliance on coal, produces acid rain; water shortages, particularly
in the north; water pollution from untreated wastes; deforestation;
estimated loss of one-fifth of agricultural land since 1949 to
soil erosion and economic development; desertification; trade
in endangered species |
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Environment
- International Agreements:
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party
to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Nuclear
Test Ban
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Geography
- note:
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world's
fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US)
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