Military manpower--availability:
males age 15-49: 3,968,176 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 2,943,206 (1999 est.)

Military manpower--reaching military age annually:
males: 132,202 (1999 est.)

Military expenditures--dollar figure: $2.12 billion (1998);
note--includes earnings from CODELCO Company and costs of pensions;
does not include funding for the National Police (Carabineros) and
Investigations Police

Military expenditures--percent of GDP: 2.79% (1998)

Transnational Issues

Disputes--international: short section of the southwestern
boundary with Argentina is indefinite--process to resolve boundary
issues is underway; Bolivia has wanted a sovereign corridor to the
South Pacific Ocean since the Atacama area was lost to Chile in
1884; dispute with Bolivia over Rio Lauca water rights; territorial
claim in Antarctica (Chilean Antarctic Territory) partially overlaps
Argentine and British claims

Illicit drugs: a growing transshipment country for cocaine
destined for the US and Europe; economic prosperity has made Chile
more attractive to traffickers seeking to launder drug profits;
imported precursors pass on to Bolivia

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@China
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Introduction

Background: For most of its 3,500 years of history, China led the
world in agriculture, crafts, and science, then fell behind in the
19th century when the Industrial Revolution gave the West clear
superiority in military and economic affairs. In the first half of
the 20th century, China continued to suffer from major famines,
civil unrest, military defeat, and foreign occupation. After World
War II, the Communists under MAO Zedong established a dictatorship
that, while ensuring China's autonomy, imposed strict controls over
all aspects of life and cost the lives of tens of millions of
people. After 1978, his successor DENG Xiaoping decentralized
economic decision making; output quadrupled in the next 20 years.
Political controls remain tight at the same time economic controls
have been weakening. Present issues are: incorporating Hong Kong
into the Chinese system; closing down inefficient state-owned
enterprises; modernizing the military; fighting corruption; and
providing support to tens of millions of displaced workers.

Geography

Location: E