Compare Paracel Islands (2003) - Indian Ocean (2006)

Compare Paracel Islands (2003) z Indian Ocean (2006)

	Paracel Islands (2003)	Indian Ocean (2006)

Airports	1 (2002)	-
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2002)	-
Area	total: NA sq km land: NA sq km water: 0 sq km	total: 68.556 million sq km note: includes Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores Sea, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java Sea, Mozambique Channel, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Savu Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and other tributary water bodies
Area - comparative	NA	about 5.5 times the size of the US
Background	The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and by potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island; maintenance was continued by its successor, Vietnam. China has occupied the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. The islands are claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.	The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean south of 60 degrees south latitude.
Climate	tropical	northeast monsoon (December to April), southwest monsoon (June to October); tropical cyclones occur during May/June and October/November in the northern Indian Ocean and January/February in the southern Indian Ocean
Coastline	518 km	66,526 km
Country name	conventional long form: none conventional short form: Paracel Islands	-
Disputes - international	occupied by China, but claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
Economy - overview	China announced plans in 1997 to open the islands for tourism.	The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Its fish are of great and growing importance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp and tuna. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and western Australia. An estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
Elevation extremes	lowest point: South China Sea 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Rocky Island 14 m	lowest point: Java Trench -7,258 m highest point: sea level 0 m
Environment - current issues	NA	endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea
Geographic coordinates	16 30 N, 112 00 E	20 00 S, 80 00 E
Geography - note	composed of 130 small coral islands and reefs divided into the northeast Amphitrite Group and the western Crescent Group	major chokepoints include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, southern access to the Suez Canal, and the Lombok Strait
Irrigated land	0 sq km (1998 est.)	-
Land boundaries	0 km	-
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (1998 est.)	-
Location	Southeastern Asia, group of small islands and reefs in the South China Sea, about one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines	body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia
Map references	Southeast Asia	Political Map of the World
Maritime claims	NA	-
Military - note	occupied by China	-
Natural hazards	typhoons	occasional icebergs pose navigational hazard in southern reaches
Natural resources	none	oil and gas fields, fish, shrimp, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: there are scattered Chinese garrisons (July 2003 est.)	-
Ports and harbors	small Chinese port facilities on Woody Island and Duncan Island being expanded	-
Terrain	mostly low and flat	surface dominated by counterclockwise gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the southern Indian Ocean; unique reversal of surface currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents, while high pressure over northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents; ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Ninetyeast Ridge
Waterways	none	-

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