and obligation:
18 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript service
obligation - 2 years (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 21,341,813 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 16,032,358 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 915,572 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$650 million (FY98)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.5% (FY98)
Transnational Issues Vietnam
Disputes - international:
southeast Asian states have enhanced border surveillance to check
the spread of avian flu; Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese
squatters and armed encroachments along border; in 2004
Laotian-Vietnamese boundary commission agrees to erect missing
markers in two adjoining provinces; 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; China occupies Paracel Islands also
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in complex dispute with
China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and possibly Brunei over the
Spratly Islands; the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in
the South China Sea" has eased tensions but falls short of a legally
binding "code of conduct" desired by several of the disputants;
Vietnam continues to expand construction of facilities in the
Spratly Islands; in March 2005, the national oil companies of China,
the Philippines, and Vietnam signed a joint accord to conduct marine
seismic activities in the Spratly Islands
Illicit drugs:
minor producer of opium poppy; probable minor transit point for
Southeast Asian heroin; domestic opium/heroin/methamphetamine
addiction problems
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Virgin Islands
Introduction Virgin Islands
Background:
During the 17th century, the archipelago was divided into two
territorial units, one English and the other Danish. Sugarcane,
produced by slave labor, drove the islands' economy during the 18th
and early 19th centuries. In 1917, the US purchased the Danish
portion, which had been in economic decline since the abolition of
slavery in 1848.
Geography Virgin Islands
Location:
Caribbean, islands between
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