1. Geography of China
China stretches some 5,026 kilometers (3,123 mi) across the East Asian landmass
bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea, and South China Sea,
between North Korea and Vietnam in a changing configuration of broad plains,
expansive deserts, and lofty mountain ranges, including vast areas of inhospitable
terrain. The eastern half of the country, its seacoast fringed with offshore islands, is
a region of fertile lowlands, foothills and mountains, deserts, steppes, and
subtropical areas. The western half of China is a region of sunken basins, rolling
plateaus, and towering massifs, including a portion of the highest tableland on
earth.
In spite of many good harbors along the approximately 18,000-kilometer coastline,
the nation has traditionally oriented itself not toward the sea but inland, developing
as an imperial power whose center lay in the middle and lower reaches of the
Yellow River on the northern plains. China also has the Tibetan Plateau, a very
large, high altitude plateau, to the south. To the north of the Tibetan Plateau lie the
Gobi and Taklimakan deserts, which stretch from the extreme northwest eastward
through Mongolia.
The People's Republic of China is one of the world's largest countries in total area
behind Russia and Canada, and very similar to the United States. Figures for the
size of China differ slightly depending on where one draws a number of ill-defined
boundaries, including claims by the PRC on territories such as Taiwan, Aksai
Chin, Trans-Karakoram Tract, and South Tibet.[1] The official figure by the
People's Republic of China is 9.6 million square kilometers. The Republic of China
based in Taiwan but claiming to be the government of China puts this figure at 11
million square kilometers,[citation needed] but this includes Mongolia, a state
whose sovereignty has been recognized by the PRC. China's contour is reasonably
comparable to that of the United States and lies largely at the same latitudes. The
total area is estimated to be 9,758,801 km2 [citation needed], with land accounting
for 9,326,410 km2 and water for 270,550 km2 (around 3 percent).Contents [hide]

2. 1 Geography
2 Topography
2.1 Tallest mountain peaks in China
3 Climates
4 Principal rivers and drainage
5 Environments
6 Natural resources
7 Land use
8 Habitats
8.1 In History
9 Wildlife
10 Boundary disputes
11 Antipodes
12 See also
13 References
14 External links
Geography
From the Tibetan Plateau and other less-elevated highlands rise rugged east-west
trending mountains, and plateaus interrupted by deep depressions fanning out to
the north and east. The Tibetan Plateau is a vast , elevated plateau covering most of
the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province in the People's Republic of
China and Ladakh in India. With an average elevation of over 4,500 meters, it is
the highest and biggest plateau in the world and an area of 2.5 million square
kilometers.[2] A continental scarp marks the eastern margin of this territory, a
scarp that extends from the Greater Khingan Range in northeastern China, through

3. the Taihang Mountains (a range of mountains overlooking the North China Plain)
to the eastern edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the south. All of the low-
lying areas of China, which support dense population and intensive cultivation, are
to the east of this scarp line.
The east-west ranges include some of Asia's greatest mountains. In addition to the
Himalayas and the Kunlun Mountains, there are the Mount Kailash (Gangdise) and
the Tian Shan ranges. The latter stands between two great basins, the massive
Tarim Basin to the south and the Dzungarian Basin to the north. Rich deposits of
coal, oil, and metallic ores lie in the Tian Shan area. The largest inland basin in
China, the Tarim Basin measures 1,500 kilometers from east to west and 600
kilometers from north to south at its widest parts. The Himalayas form a natural
boundary on the southwest as the Altai Mountains do on the northwest. Lesser
ranges branch out, some at sharp angles from the major ranges. The mountains
give rise to all the principal rivers. The spine of the Kunlun Mountains separates
into several branches as it runs eastward from the Pamir Mountains. The
northernmost branches, the Altyn-Tagh and the Qilian Range, form the rim of the
Tibetan Plateau in west-central China and overlook the Qaidam Basin, a sandy and
swampy region containing many salt lakes. A southern branch of the Kunlun
Mountains divides the watersheds of the Yellow River (Huang He) and the
Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). The Gansu Corridor, west of the great bend in the
Yellow River, was traditionally an important communications link with Central
Asia.
North of the 3,300-kilometer-long Great Wall, between Gansu Province on the
west and the Greater Khingan Range on the east, lies the Mongolian Plateau, at an
average elevation of 1,000 metres above sea level. The Yin Mountains, a system of
mountains with average elevations of 1,400 metres, extends east-west through the
center of this vast desert steppe. To the south is the largest loess plateau in the
world, covering 600,000 square kilometers in Shaanxi Province, parts of Gansu
and Shanxi provinces, and some of Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region. Loess is a
yellowish soil blown in from the Inner Mongolian deserts. The loose, loamy

4. material travels easily in the wind, and through the centuries it has veneered the
plateau and choked the Yellow River with silt. Because the river level drops
precipitously toward the North China Plain where it sluggishly crosses the delta, it
carries a heavy load of sediment in the form of sand and mud from the upper
reaches, much of which is deposited on the flat plain. The flow is controlled
mainly by constantly repaired man-made embankments while floods and course
changes have recurred over the centuries. As a result the river flows on a raised
ridge fifty meters or more above the plain, Traditionally, rulers were judged by
their concern for or indifference to preservation of the embankments.
The Paleozoic formations of China, excepting only the upper part of the
Carboniferous system, are marine, while the Mesozoic and Tertiary deposits are
estuarine and freshwater, or else of terrestrial origin. Groups of volcanic cones
occur in the Great Plain of north China. In the Liaodong and Shandong Peninsulas,
there are basaltic plateaus.
Flowing from its source in the Tibetan highlands, the Yellow River courses toward
the sea through the North China Plain, the historic center of Chinese expansion and
influence. Han Chinese people have farmed the rich alluvial soils of the plain since
ancient times, constructing the Grand Canal of China for north-south transport. The
plain itself is actually a continuation of the Northeast China Plain to the northeast
but is separated from it by the Bohai Gulf, an extension of the Yellow Sea. Like
other densely populated areas of China, the plain is subject not only to floods but
to earthquakes. For example, the mining and industrial center of Tangshan, about
165 kilometers east of Beijing, was leveled by an earthquake in July 1976 that
reportedly also killed 242,000 people and injured 164,000.
The Qinling mountain range, a continuation of the Kunlun Mountains, divides the
North China Plain from the Yangtze River Delta and is the major physiographic
boundary between the two great parts of China Proper. It is in a sense a cultural
boundary as well, influencing the distribution of custom and language. South of the

5. Qinling divide are the densely populated and highly developed areas of the lower
and middle plains of the Yangtze and, on its upper reaches, the Sichuan Basin, an
area encircled by a high barrier of mountain ranges. The country's longest and most
important waterway, the Yangtze River is navigable over much of its length and is
now the site of the Three Gorges Dam. Rising on the Tibetan Plateau, the Yangtze
River traverses 6,300 kilometers through the heart of the country, draining an area
of 1.8 million square kilometers before emptying into the East China Sea. The
Sichuan Basin, favored by a mild, humid climate and a long growing season,
produces a rich variety of crops; it is also a leading silk-producing area and an
important industrial region with substantial mineral resources.
Second only to the Qinling as an internal boundary is the Nanling, the
southernmost of the east-west mountain ranges. The Nanling overlooks the part of
China where a tropical climate permits two crops of rice to be grown each year.
Southeast of the mountains lies a coastal, hilly region of small deltas and narrow
valley plains; the drainage area of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) and its associated
network of rivers occupies much of the region to the south. West of the Nanling,
the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau rises in two steps, averaging 1,200 and 1,800 meters
in elevation, respectively, toward the precipitous mountain regions of the eastern
Tibetan Plateau.
The Hai River, like the Pearl and other major waterways, flows from west to east.
Its upper course consists of five rivers that converge near Tianjin, then flow
seventy kilometers before emptying into the Bohai Gulf. Another major river, the
Huai, rises in Henan Province and flows through several lakes before joining the
Yangtze near Yangzhou. Inland drainage involving a number of upland basins in
the north and northeast accounts for about 40 percent of the country's total drainage
area. Many rivers and streams flow into lakes or diminish in the desert. Some are
useful for irrigation.

6. China's extensive territorial waters are principally marginal seas of the western
Pacific Ocean; these waters wash the shores of a long and much-indented coastline
and approximately 5,000 islands. The Yellow, East China, and South China seas,
too, are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean. More than half the coastline
(predominantly in the south) is rocky; most of the remainder is sandy. Hangzhou
Bay roughly divides the two kinds of shoreline.
Areas of China have experienced earthquakes. On 23 August 1976, a major
earthquake in Tangshan killed hundreds of thousands of people. However, most
regions of China do not experience earthquakes, as major population centers are a
long distance from fault lines. Tangshan is one of the few places in China that is
located within an earthquake zone. There are few volcanoes in China.
Topography
The topography of China is diverse with snow-capped mountains, deep river
valleys, broad basins, high plateaus, rolling plains, terraced hills, sandy dunes,
craggy karsts, volcanic calderas, low-latitude glaciers and other landforms present
in myriad variations. In general, the land is high in the west and descends to the
east coast. Mountains (33%), plateaus (26%) and hills (10%) account for nearly
70% of the country's land surface. Most of the country's arable land and population
are based in lowland plains (12%) and basins (19%), though some of the greatest
basins are filled with deserts. The country's rugged terrain presents problems for
the construction of overland transportation infrastructure and requires extensive
terracing to sustain agriculture, but is conducive to the development of forestry,
mineral and hydropower resources and tourism.
The world's tallest mountains, the Himalayas, Karakorum, Pamirs and Tian Shan
divide China from South and Central Asia. Eleven of the 17 tallest mountain peaks
are located on China's western borders. They include world's tallest peak Mt.
Everest (8848m) in the Himalyas on the border with Nepal and the world's second
tallest peak, K2 (8611m) on the border with Pakistan. From these towering heights
in the west, the land descends in steps like a terrace.

7. North of the Himalayas and east of the Karakorum/Pamirs is the vast Tibetan
Plateau, the largest and highest plateau in the world, also known as the "Roof of
the World." The plateau has an average elevation of 4,000m above sea level and
covers an area of 2.5 million square kilometers, or about one-fifth of China's land
mass. In the north, the plateau is hemmed in by the Kunlun Mountains, which
extends eastward from the intersection of the Pamirs, Karakorum and Tian Shan.
Northwest of the Tibetan Plateau, between the northern slope of Kunlun and
southern slope of Tian Shan, is the vast Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, which contains
the Taklamakan Desert. The Tarim Basin, the largest in China, measures 1,500 km
from east to west and 600 km from north to south at its widest parts. Average
elevation in the basin is 1,000m. To east, the basin descends into the Hami-Turpan
Depression of eastern Xinjiang, where the dried lake bed of Lake Ayding at -154m
below sea level, is the lowest surface point in China and the third lowest in the
world. With temperatures that have reached 49.6 C, the lake bed ranks as one the
hottest places in China. North of Tian Shan is Xinjiang's second great basin, the
Jungar, which contains the Gurbantünggüt Desert. The Jungar Basin is enclosed to
the north by the Altay Mountains which separates Xinjiang from Russia and
Mongolia.
Northeast of the Tibetan Plateau, the Altun Shan-Qilian Mountains range branches
off the Kunlun and creates a parallel mountain range running east-west. In between
in northern Qinghai is the Qaidam Basin, with elevation of 2,600-3,000m and
numerous brackish and salt lakes. North of the Qilian is Hexi Corridor of Gansu, a
natural passage between Xinjiang and China Proper that was part of the ancient
Silk Road and traversed by modern highway and rail lines to Xinjiang. Further
north, the Inner Mongolian Plateau, between 900-1,500m in elevation, arcs north
up the spine of China and becomes the Greater Hinggan Range of Northeast China.

8. East of the Tibetan Plateau, deeply folded mountains fan out toward the Sichuan
Basin, which is ringed by mountains in 1,000-3,000m elevation. The floor of the
basin has an average elevation of 500m and is home to one of the most densely
farmed and populated regions of China. The Sichuan Basin is capped in the north
by the eastward continuation of the Kunlun range, the Qinling and Dabashan. The
Qinling and Dabashan ranges form a major north-south divide across China
Proper, the traditional core area of China. Southeast of the Tibetan Plateau and
south of the Sichuan Basin is the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which occupy much of
southwest China. This plateau, with an average elevation of 2,000m, is known for
limestone karst landscape.
Between the Qinling and the Inner Mongolian Plateau is Loess Plateau, the largest
of its kind in the world, covering 650,000 km² in Shaanxi, parts of Gansu and
Shanxi provinces, and some of Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region. The plateau is
1,000-1,500m in elevation and is filled with loess, a yellowish, loose soil that
travels easily in the wind. Eroded loess silt give the Yellow River its color and
name. The Loess Plateau is bound to the east by the Luliang Mountain of Shanxi,
which has a narrow basin running north to south along the Fen River. Further east
is the Taihang Mountains of Hebei, the dominant topographical feature of North
China.
The Taihang forms the western side of the triangular North China Plain. The other
two sides are the Pacific Coast to the east and the Yangtze River to the southwest.
The vertices of this triangle are Beijing to the north, Shanghai to the southeast and
Yichang to the southwest. This alluvial plain, fed by the Yellow and Yangtze
Rivers, is one of the most heavily populated regions of China. The only mountains
in the plain are the Taishan in Shandong and Dabie Mountains of Anhui.
South of the Yangtze, the landscape is more rugged. Like Shanxi Province to the
north, each of Hunan and Jiangxi has a provincial core in a river basin that is
surrounded by mountains. The Wuling range separates Guizhou from Hunan. The

9. Luoxiao and Jinggang divides Hunan from Jiangxi, which is separated from Fujian
by the Wuyi Mountains. The southeast coastal provinces, Zhejiang, Fujian and
Guangdong have rugged coasts, with pockets of lowland and mountainous interior.
The Nanling, a east-west mountain range, across northern Guangdong, seals off
Hunan and Jiangxi from Guangdong.
Beijing, situated at the
north tip of the North China
Plain, is shielded by the
intersection of Taihang and
Jingdu Mountains. Further
north are the drier
grasslands of the Inner
Mongolian Plateau,
traditionally home to
pastoralists. To the south
are agricultural regions, traditionally home to sedentary populations. The Great
Wall of China was built in the mountains across the mountains that mark the
southern edge of the Inner Mongolian Plateau. The Ming-era walls run 2,000 km
east-to-west from Shanhaiguan on the Bohai Coast to the Hexi Corridor in Gansu.
Northeast of Shanhaiguan, a narrow sliver of flat coastal land opens up into the
vast Manchurian Plain. The plains extend north to the crown of the "Chinese
rooster," near where the Greater and Lesser Hinggan ranges converge. The
Changbai Mountains to the east divide China from the Korean peninsula.
The Bayan Bulak Grasslands in Hejing County of the Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang .

10. Tallest mountain peaks in China
The tallest peak entirely within China is Shishapangma (8013m, 14th) of the
Tibetan Himalayas in Nyalam County of Tibet Autonomous Region.
The norths face of Mt. Everest in the Himalayas from the Tibetan side of the China-Nepal border. The Loess Plateau near Hunyuan in Shanxi
Province.
Besides Mt. Everest and K2, the other 9 of the world's 17 tallest peaks on China's
western borders are: Lhotse (8516m, 4th highest), Makalu (8485m, 5th), Cho Oyu
(8188m, 6th), Gyachung Kang (7952m, 15th) of the Himalayas on the border with
Nepal and Gasherbrum I (8080m, 11th), Broad Peak (8051m, 12th), Gasherbrum II
(8035m, 13th), Gasherbrum III (7946m, 16th) and Gasherbrum IV (7932m, 17th)
of the Karakorum on the border with Pakistan. The tallest peak entirely within
China is Shishapangma (8013m, 14th) of the Tibetan Himalayas in Nyalam County
of Tibet Autonomous Region. In all, 9 of the 14 mountain peaks in the world over
8,000m are in or on the border of China. Another notable Himalyan peak in China
is Namchabarwa (7782m, 28th), near the great bend of the Yarlungtsanpo River in
eastern Tibet, and considered to be the eastern anchor of the Himalayas.
The Karakorum Range in Xinjiang Namtso Lake and the Nyainqêntanglha Mountains on the Tibetan Plateau

11. Outside the Himalayas and Karakorum, China's tallest peaks are Kongur Tagh
(7649m, 37th) and Muztagh Ata (7546m, 43rd) in the Pamirs of western Xinjiang,
Gongga Shan (7556m, 41st) in the Great Snowy Mountains of western Sichuan;
and Tömür Shan (7,439m, 60th), the highest peak of Tian Shan, on the border with
Kyrgyzstan.
Climate
The climate of China is extremely diverse; Dry in the south to subarctic in the
north. Monsoon winds, caused by differences in the heat-absorbing capacity of the
continent and the ocean, dominate the climate. Alternating seasonal air-mass
movements and accompanying winds are moist in summer and dry in winter. The
advance and retreat of the monsoons account in large degree for the timing of the
rainy season and the amount of rainfall throughout the country. Tremendous
differences in latitude, longitude, and altitude give rise to sharp variations in
precipitation and temperature within China. Although most of the country lies in
the temperate belt, its climatic patterns are complex.
Parts of China's northernmost province Heilongjiang has a subarctic climate; its
southernmost part, Hainan Island (an island away from mainland China), has a
tropical climate. Temperature differences in winter are great, but in summer the
diversity is considerably less. For example, the north of Heilongjiang has an
average January mean temperature of below −20 °C (−4 °F), and the reading may
drop to −40 °C (−40 °F); the average July mean in the same area may exceed 20 °C
(68 °F). By contrast, the central and southern parts of Guangdong province
experience an average January temperature of above 10 °C (50 °F), while the July
mean is generally above 28 °C (82 °F).
Precipitation varies regionally even more than temperature. The part of China
south of the Qin Mountains experiences abundant rainfall, often above 1,000

12. millimetres (39 in), most of it coming with the monsoon during summer and late
spring. To the north and west of the range, however, rainfall is uncertain. The
farther north and west one moves, the scantier and more uncertain it becomes. The
northwest has the lowest annual rainfall in the country and hardly any precipitation
in its desert areas. China experiences frequent typhoons (about five per year along
southern and eastern coasts), damaging floods, monsoons, tsunamis, dust storms,
and droughts
1. The average annual precipitation in different regions of Mainland China and Taiwan
2. The first day of spring 2010 brought a massive sandstorm blowing from Inner Mongol
3. Haze over the North China Plain and the Lüliang Mountains of Shanxi province
4. Early-season snow covering part of the North China Plain near Shijiazhuan
5. Snow encircling the area around the Bo Ha
Principal rivers and drainage
See also: List of rivers of China
China has 50,000 rivers totaling some 420,000 kilometers in length and each
having a catchment area of more than 100 square kilometers. Some 1,500 of
these rivers each have catchment areas exceeding 1,000 square kilometers.
Most rivers flow from west to east and empty into the Pacific Ocean. The
Yangzi (Changjiang or Yangtze River), which rises in Tibet, flows through
Central China, and, having traveled 6,300 kilometers, enters the Yellow Sea
near Shanghai. The Yangzi has a catchment area of 1.8 million square
kilometers and is the third longest river in the world after the Amazon and
the Nile. The second longest river in China is the Huanghe (Yellow River),
which also rises in Tibet and travels circuitously for 5,464 kilometers
through North China before reaching the Bo Hai Gulf on the north coast of
Shandong Province. It has a catchment area of 752,000 square kilometers.
The Heilongjiang (Heilong or Black Dragon River) flows for 3,101
kilometers in Northeast China and an additional 1,249 in Russia, where it is
known as the Amur. The longest river in South China is the Zhujiang (Pearl
River), which is 2,214 kilometers long. Along with its three tributaries, the

13. Xi, Dong, and Bei—West, East, and North—rivers, it forms the rich Pearl
River Delta near Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Macau, and Hong Kong. Other major
rivers are the Liaohe in the northeast, Haihe in the north, Qiantang in the
east, and Lancang in the southwest.
Because the river level drops precipitously toward the North China Plain,
where it continues a sluggish course across the delta, it transports a heavy
load of sand and mud from the upper reaches, much of which is deposited on
the flat plain. The flow is channeled mainly by constantly repaired manmade
embankments; as a result the river flows on a raised ridge fifty meters or
more above the plain, and waterlogging, floods, and course changes have
recurred over the centuries. Traditionally, rulers were judged by their
concern for or indifference to preservation of the embankments. In the
modern era, China has undertaken extensive flood control and conservation
measures.
Flowing from its source in the Qingzang highlands, the Yellow River
courses toward the sea through the North China Plain, the historic center of
Chinese expansion and influence. Han Chinese people have farmed the rich
alluvial soils of the plain since ancient times, constructing the Grand Canal
for north-south transport (see History of China - Imperial era). The plain
itself is actually a continuation of the Dongbei (Manchurian) Plain to the
northeast but is separated from it by the Bohai Gulf, an extension of the
Yellow Sea.
Like other densely populated areas of China, the plain is subject not only to
floods but to earthquakes. For example, the mining and industrial center of
Tangshan, about 165 km east of Beijing, was leveled by an earthquake in
July 1976 that was believed to be the largest earthquake of the 20th century
by death toll.
The Qin Mountains, a continuation of the Kunlun Mountains, divides the
North China Plain from the Yangtze River Delta and is the major
physiographic boundary between the two great parts of China Proper. It is in
a sense a cultural boundary as well, influencing the distribution of custom

14. and language. South of the Qinling mountain range divide are the densely
populated and highly developed areas of the lower and middle plains of the
Yangtze River and, on its upper reaches, the Sichuan Basin, an area
encircled by a high barrier of mountain ranges.
The country's longest and most important waterway, the Yangtze River is
navigable over much of its length and has a vast hydroelectric potential.
Rising on the Qingzang Plateau, the Yangtze River traverses 6,300 km
through the heart of the country, draining an area of 1.8 million km² before
emptying into the East China Sea. The roughly 300 million people who live
along its middle and lower reaches cultivate a great rice- and wheat-
producing area. The Sichuan Basin, favored by a mild, humid climate and a
long growing season, produces a rich variety of crops; it is also a leading
silk-producing area and an important industrial region with substantial
mineral resources.
Second only to the Qinling range as an internal boundary is the Nanling, the
southernmost of the east-west mountain ranges. The Nanling overlooks the
part of China where a tropical climate permits two crops of rice to be grown
each year. Southeast of the mountains lies a coastal, hilly region of small
deltas and narrow valley plains; the drainage area of the Pearl River and its
associated network of rivers occupies much of the region to the south. West
of the Nanling, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau rises in two steps, averaging
1,200 and 1,800 m in elevation, respectively, toward the precipitous
mountain regions of the eastern Qingzang Plateau.
The Hai River, like the Pearl River and other major waterways, flows from
west to east. Its upper course consists of five rivers that converge near
Tianjin, then flow seventy kilometers before emptying into the Bohai Gulf.
Another major river, the Huai River, rises in Henan Province and flows
through several lakes before joining the Pearl River near Yangzhou.
Inland drainage involving a number of upland basins in the north and
northeast accounts for about 40 percent of the country's total drainage area.

15. Many rivers and streams flow into lakes or diminish in the desert. Some are
useful for irrigation.
China's extensive territorial waters are principally marginal seas of the
western Pacific Ocean; these waters wash the shores of a long and much-
indented coastline and approximately 5,000 islands. The Yellow Sea, East
China Sea, and South China Sea, too, are marginal seas of the Pacific Ocean.
More than half the coastline (predominantly in the south) is rocky; most of
the remainder is sandy. The Bay of Hangzhou roughly divides the two kinds
of shoreline.
Boundary disputes
China's borders have more than 20,000 km of land frontier shared with
nearly all the nations of mainland East Asia, were disputed at a number of
points. In the western sector, China claimed portions of the 41,000 km²
Pamir Mountains area, a region of soaring mountain peaks and glacia filled
valleys where the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Soviet Union, and
China meet in Central Asia. North and east of this region, some sections of
the border remained undemarcated in 1987. The 6,542 km frontier with the

16. Soviet Union has been a source of continual friction. In 1954 China
published maps showing substantial portions of Soviet Siberian territory as
its own. In the northeast, border friction with the Soviet Union produced a
tense situation in remote regions of Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang along
segments of the Argun River, Amur River, and Ussuri River. Each side had
massed troops and had exchanged charges of border provocation in this area.
In a September 1986 speech in Vladivostok, Soviet leader Mikhail S.
Gorbachev offered the Chinese a more conciliatory position on Sino-Soviet
border rivers. In 1987 the two sides resumed border talks that had been
broken off after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (see Sino-Soviet
relations). Although the border issue remained unresolved as of late 1987,
China and the Soviet Union agreed to consider the northeastern sector first.
In October 2004, China signed an agreement with Russia on the delimitation
of their entire 4,300-kilometer-long border, which had long been in dispute.
A major dispute between China and India focuses on the northern edge of
their shared border, where the Aksai Chin area of northeastern Jammu and
Kashmir is under Chinese de facto administration but claimed by India and
Pakistan. Eastward from Bhutan and north of the Brahmaputra River
(Yarlung Zangbo Jiang) lies a large area controlled and administered by
India but claimed by the Chinese. The area was demarcated by the British
McMahon Line, drawn along the Himalayas in 1914 as the Sino-Indian
border; India accepts and China rejects this boundary. In June 1980 China
made its first move in twenty years to settle the border disputes with India,
proposing that India cede the Aksai Chin area in Jammu and Kashmir to
China in return for China's recognition of the McMahon Line; India did not
accept the offer, however, preferring a sector-by-sector approach to the
problem. In July 1986 China and India held their seventh round of border
talks, but they made little headway toward resolving the dispute. Each side,
but primarily India, continued to make allegations of incursions into its
territory by the other. Most of the mountainous and militarized boundary
with India is still in dispute, but Beijing and New Delhi have committed to
begin resolution with discussions on the least disputed middle sector. India
does not recognize Pakistan’s ceding lands to China in a 1964 boundary
agreement.

17. The China-Burma border issue was settled October 1, 1960, by the signing
of the Sino-Burmese Boundary Treaty. The first joint inspection of the
border was completed successfully in June 1986.
China is involved in a complex dispute with Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam,
and possibly Brunei over the Spratly (Nansha) Islands in the South China
Sea. The 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China
Sea" eased tensions but fell short of a legally binding code of conduct
desired by several of the disputants. China also occupies the Paracel (Xisha)
Islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam, and asserts a claim to the
Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu Tai) in the Pacific Ocean.
[edit]
Antipodes