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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: 22,147.34 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 4,677 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
exclusive economic zone: 200 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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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Turpan Pendi -154 m
highest point: Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)
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Natural resources:
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coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminum, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest)
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Land use:
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arable land: 13.31%
permanent crops: 1.2%
other: 85.49% (1998 est.)
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Irrigated land:
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525,800 sq km (1998 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; land subsidence
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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, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
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Geography - note:
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world's fourth-largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US); Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak;
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