les: 69,646 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures--dollar figure: $33 million (1998)

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 0.6% (1998)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: demarcation of boundary with El Salvador
defined by 1992 International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision has
not been completed; small boundary section left unresolved by ICJ
decision not yet reported to have been settled; with respect to the
maritime boundary in the Golfo de Fonseca, ICJ referred to an
earlier agreement in this century and advised that some tripartite
resolution among El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua likely would
be required; maritime boundary dispute with Nicaragua

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for drugs and narcotics;
illicit producer of cannabis, cultivated on small plots and used
principally for local consumption

======================================================================

@Hong Kong
---------

Introduction

Background: Pursuant to the 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. Under the terms
of this agreement, China has promised that under its "one country,
two systems" formula its socialist economic system will not be
practiced in Hong Kong, and that Hong Kong shall enjoy a high degree
of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs.

Geography

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
border countries: China 30 km

Coastline: 733 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 3 nm

Climate: tropical 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: 6%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 1%
forests and woodland: 20%
other: 72% (1997 est.)

Irrigated land: 20 sq km (1997 est.)

Natural hazards: occasional typhoons

Enviro