d boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 926 km

Maritime claims: NA

Climate: tropical

Terrain: flat

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Southwest Cay 4 m

Natural resources: fish, guano, undetermined oil and natural gas
potential

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 100%

Irrigated land: 0 sq km (1993)

Natural hazards: typhoons; serious maritime hazard because of numerous
reefs and shoals

Environment-current issues: NA

Environment-international agreements:
party to: none of the selected agreements
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography-note: strategically located near several primary shipping
lanes in the central South China Sea; includes numerous small islands,
atolls, shoals, and coral reefs

@Spratly Islands:People

Population: no indigenous inhabitants
note: there are scattered garrisons occupied by personnel of several
claimant states

@Spratly Islands:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Spratly Islands

Data code: PG

@Spratly Islands:Economy

Economy-overview: Economic activity is limited to commercial fishing.
The proximity to nearby oil- and gas-producing sedimentary basins
suggests the potential for oil and gas deposits, but the region is
largely unexplored, and there are no reliable estimates of potential
reserves; commercial exploitation has yet to be developed.

@Spratly Islands:Transportation

Ports and harbors: none

Airports: 4 (1997 est.)

Airports-with paved runways:
total: 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (1997 est.)

Airports-with unpaved runways:
total: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 2 (1997 est.)

@Spratly Islands:Military

Military-note: about 50 small islands or reefs are occupied by China,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam

@Spratly Islands:Transnational Issues

Disputes-international: all of the Spratly Islands are claimed by
China, Taiwan, and Vietnam; parts of them are claimed by Malaysia and
the Philippines; in 1984, Brunei established an exclusive fishing
zone, which encompasses Louisa Reef in the southern Spratly Islands,
but has not publicly claimed the island

______________________________________________________________________

SRI LANKA

@Sri Lanka:Geography

Location: Southern Asia, island in the Indian Ocean, south of India

Geographic