e Caribbean in
the failed 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum, which the OAS is
attempting to revive; Nicaragua filed a claim against Honduras in
1999 and against Colombia in 2001 at the ICJ over a complex dispute
over islands and maritime boundaries in the Caribbean Sea

Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for drugs and narcotics; illicit producer of
cannabis, cultivated on small plots and used principally for local
consumption; corruption is a major problem; some money-laundering
activity

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@Hong Kong

Introduction Hong Kong

Background:
Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China
the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the
19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on
19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997. In this
agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two
systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be
imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of
autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the
next 50 years.

Geography Hong Kong

Location:
Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China

Geographic coordinates:
22 15 N, 114 10 E

Map references:
Southeast Asia

Area:
total: 1,092 sq km
land: 1,042 sq km
water: 50 sq km

Area - comparative:
six times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
total: 30 km
regional border: China 30 km

Coastline:
733 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate:
subtropical monsoon; cool and humid in winter, hot and rainy from
spring through summer, warm and sunny in fall

Terrain:
hilly to mountainous with steep slopes; lowlands in north

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Tai Mo Shan 958 m

Natural resources:
outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar

Land use:
arable land: 5.05%
permanent crops: 1.01%
other: 93.94% (2001)

Irrigated land:
20 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
occasional typhoons

Environment - current issues:
air and water pollution from rapid urbanization

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Marine Dumping (associate membe