Part 182

Railways: total : 62,500 km (including 5,400 km of provincial "local" rails) standard gauge: 58,900 km 1.435-m gauge (9,700 km electrified; 18,100 km double track) narrow gauge: 3,600 km 0.750-m gauge local industrial lines (1996 est.)

Highways: total: 1.117 million km paved: 239,500 km unpaved: 877,500 km (1996 est.)

Waterways: 138,600 km; about 110,600 km navigable

Pipelines: crude oil 9,700 km; petroleum products 1,100 km; natural gas 6,200 km (1990)

Ports and harbors: Dalian, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Lianyungang, Nanjing, Nantong, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shantou, Tianjin, Xiamen, Yantain, Zhanjiang

Merchant marine: total: 1,736 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,749,069 GRT/25,196,607 DWT ships by type: barge carrier 2, bulk 325, cargo 883, chemical tanker 16, combination bulk 11, container 109, liquefied gas tanker 9, multifunction large-load carrier 6, oil tanker 232, passenger 6, passenger-cargo 47, refrigerated cargo 24, roll-on/roll-off cargo 22, short-sea passenger 43, specialized tanker 1 note: China owns an additional 270 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,754,413 DWT operating under the registries of Panama, Hong Kong, Malta, Liberia, Vanuatu, Cyprus, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Marshall Islands, and Singapore (1996 est.)

Airports: 206 (1996 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: total: 192 over 3,047 m: 18 2,438 to 3,047 m: 65 1,524 to 2,437 m: 90 914 to 1,523 m : 13 under 914 m: 6 (1996 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 14 1,524 to 2,437 m: 8 914 to 1,523 m: 5 under 914 m : 1 (1996 est.)

Military

Military branches: People's Liberation Army (PLA), which includes the Ground Forces, Navy (includes Marines and Naval Aviation), Air Force, Second Artillery Corps (the strategic missile force), People's Armed Police (internal security troops, nominally subordinate to Ministry of Public Security, but included by the Chinese as part of the "armed forces" and considered to be an adjunct to the PLA in wartime)

Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49 : 356,848,321 (1997 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males: 196,780,527 (1997 est.)

Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males : 9,872,055 (1997 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: the officially announced but suspect figure is 70.2 billion yuan (1995 est.); note - conversion of the defense budget into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: boundary with India in dispute; disputed sections of the boundary with Russia remain to be settled; boundary with Tajikistan in dispute; short section of the boundary with North Korea is indefinite; involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei; maritime boundary dispute with Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin; Paracel Islands occupied by China, but claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; claims Japanese-administered Senkaku-shoto (Senkaku Islands/Diaoyu Tai), as does Taiwan

Illicit drugs: major transshipment point for heroin produced in the Golden Triangle; growing domestic drug abuse problem ______________________________________________________________________

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

(territory of Australia)

@Christmas Island:Geography

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 0.7 times the size of Washington, DC