China's historical civilization dates to at least 13th century B.C., first under the Shang (to 1046 B.C.) and then the Zhou (1046-221 B.C) dynasties. The imperial era of China began in 221 B.C. under the Qin Dynasty and lasted until the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. During this period, China alternated between periods of unity and disunity under a succession of imperial dynasties. In the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty suffered heavily from overextension by territorial conquest, insolvency, civil war, imperialism, military defeats, and foreign expropriation of ports and infrastructure. It collapsed following the Revolution of 1911, and China became a republic under SUN Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT or Nationalist) Party. However, the republic was beset by division, warlordism, and continued foreign intervention. In the late 1920s, a civil war erupted between the ruling KMT-controlled government led by CHIANG Kai-shek, and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Japan occupied much of northeastern China in the early 1930s, and then launched a full-scale invasion of the country in 1937. The resulting eight years of warfare devastated the country and cost up to 20 million Chinese lives by the time of Japan’s defeat in 1945. The Nationalist-Communist civil war continued with renewed intensity following the end of World War II and culminated with a CCP victory in 1949, under the leadership of MAO Zedong.
MAO and the CCP established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and launched agricultural, economic, political, and social policies - such as the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) - that cost the lives of millions of people. MAO died in 1976. Beginning in 1978, subsequent leaders DENG Xiaoping, JIANG Zemin, and HU Jintao focused on market-oriented economic development and opening up the country to foreign trade, while maintaining the rule of the CCP. Since the change, China has been among the world’s fastest growing economies, with real gross domestic product averaging over 9% growth annually through 2018, lifting an estimated 800 million people out of poverty, and dramatically improving overall living standards. By 2011, China’s economy was the second largest in the world. The growth, however, has created considerable social displacement, adversely affected the country’s environment, and reduced the country’s natural resources. Current leader XI Jinping has continued these policies, but also has maintained tight political controls. Over the past decade, China has also increased its global outreach, including military deployments, participation in international organizations, and initiating a global infrastructure investment project in 2013 called the \"Belt and Road Initiative\" (BRI). While many nations have signed on to BRI agreements, others have balked seeing the terms as a form of neo-imperialism or debt-trap diplomacy.
frequent typhoons (about five per year along southern and eastern coasts); damaging floods; tsunamis; earthquakes; droughts; land subsidence
volcanism: China contains some historically active volcanoes including Changbaishan (also known as Baitoushan, Baegdu, or P'aektu-san), Hainan Dao, and Kunlun although most have been relatively inactive in recent centuries
" }, "Geography - note": { "text": "note 1: world's fourth largest country (after Russia, Canada, and US) and largest country situated entirely in Asia; Mount Everest on the border with Nepal is the world's tallest peak above sea level23 provinces (sheng, singular and plural), 5 autonomous regions (zizhiqu, singular and plural), 4 municipalities (shi, singular and plural), and two special administrative regions (tebie xingzhengqu, singular and plural)
provinces: Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang; (see note on Taiwan)
autonomous regions: Guangxi, Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia), Ningxia, Xinjiang Uyghur, Xizang (Tibet)
municipalities: Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Tianjin
special administrative regions: Hong Kong, Macau
Since the late 1970s, China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one that plays a major global role. China has implemented reforms in a gradualist fashion, resulting in efficiency gains that have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. Reforms began with the phaseout of collectivized agriculture, and expanded to include the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state enterprises, growth of the private sector, development of stock markets and a modern banking system, and opening to foreign trade and investment. China continues to pursue an industrial policy, state support of key sectors, and a restrictive investment regime. From 2013 to 2017, China had one of the fastest growing economies in the world, averaging slightly more than 7% real growth per year. Measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis that adjusts for price differences, China in 2017 stood as the largest economy in the world, surpassing the US in 2014 for the first time in modern history. China became the world's largest exporter in 2010, and the largest trading nation in 2013. Still, China's per capita income is below the world average.
In July 2005 moved to an exchange rate system that references a basket of currencies. From mid-2005 to late 2008, the renminbi (RMB) appreciated more than 20% against the US dollar, but the exchange rate remained virtually pegged to the dollar from the onset of the global financial crisis until June 2010, when Beijing announced it would resume a gradual appreciation. From 2013 until early 2015, the renminbi held steady against the dollar, but it depreciated 13% from mid-2015 until end-2016 amid strong capital outflows; in 2017 the RMB resumed appreciating against the dollar – roughly 7% from end-of-2016 to end-of-2017. In 2015, the People’s Bank of China announced it would continue to carefully push for full convertibility of the renminbi, after the currency was accepted as part of the IMF’s special drawing rights basket. However, since late 2015 the Chinese Government has strengthened capital controls and oversight of overseas investments to better manage the exchange rate and maintain financial stability.
The Chinese Government faces numerous economic challenges including: (a) reducing its high domestic savings rate and correspondingly low domestic household consumption; (b) managing its high corporate debt burden to maintain financial stability; (c) controlling off-balance sheet local government debt used to finance infrastructure stimulus; (d) facilitating higher-wage job opportunities for the aspiring middle class, including rural migrants and college graduates, while maintaining competitiveness; (e) dampening speculative investment in the real estate sector without sharply slowing the economy; (f) reducing industrial overcapacity; and (g) raising productivity growth rates through the more efficient allocation of capital and state-support for innovation. Economic development has progressed further in coastal provinces than in the interior, and by 2016 more than 169.3 million migrant workers and their dependents had relocated to urban areas to find work. One consequence of China’s population control policy known as the \"one-child policy\" - which was relaxed in 2016 to permit all families to have two children - is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table, especially in the North - is another long-term problem. China continues to lose arable land because of erosion and urbanization. The Chinese Government is seeking to add energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil, focusing on natural gas, nuclear, and clean energy development. In 2016, China ratified the Paris Agreement, a multilateral agreement to combat climate change, and committed to peak its carbon dioxide emissions between 2025 and 2030.
The government's 13th Five-Year Plan, unveiled in March 2016, emphasizes the need to increase innovation and boost domestic consumption to make the economy less dependent on government investment, exports, and heavy industry. However, China has made more progress on subsidizing innovation than rebalancing the economy. Beijing has committed to giving the market a more decisive role in allocating resources, but the Chinese Government’s policies continue to favor state-owned enterprises and emphasize stability. Chinese leaders in 2010 pledged to double China’s GDP by 2020, and the 13th Five Year Plan includes annual economic growth targets of at least 6.5% through 2020 to achieve that goal. In recent years, China has renewed its support for state-owned enterprises in sectors considered important to \"economic security,\" explicitly looking to foster globally competitive industries. Chinese leaders also have undermined some market-oriented reforms by reaffirming the \"dominant\" role of the state in the economy, a stance that threatens to discourage private initiative and make the economy less efficient over time. The slight acceleration in economic growth in 2017—the first such uptick since 2010—gives Beijing more latitude to pursue its economic reforms, focusing on financial sector deleveraging and its Supply-Side Structural Reform agenda, first announced in late 2015.
" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity)": { "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2020": { "text": "$23,009,780,000,000 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2019": { "text": "$22,492,450,000,000 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Real GDP (purchasing power parity) 2018": { "text": "$21,229,360,000,000 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2010 dollars" }, "Real GDP growth rate": { "Real GDP growth rate 2019": { "text": "6.14% (2019 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2018": { "text": "6.75% (2018 est.)" }, "Real GDP growth rate 2017": { "text": "6.92% (2017 est.)" } }, "Real GDP per capita": { "Real GDP per capita 2020": { "text": "$16,400 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Real GDP per capita 2019": { "text": "$16,100 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Real GDP per capita 2018": { "text": "$15,200 note: data are in 2017 dollars (2018 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are in 2010 dollars" }, "GDP (official exchange rate)": { "text": "$14,327,359,000,000 (2019 est.)", "note": "note: because China's exchange rate is determined by fiat rather than by market forces, the official exchange rate measure of GDP is not an accurate measure of China's output; GDP at the official exchange rate substantially understates the actual level of China's output vis-a-vis the rest of the world; in China's situation, GDP at purchasing power parity provides the best measure for comparing output across countries" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices)": { "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2019": { "text": "2.8% (2019 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2018": { "text": "2% (2018 est.)" }, "Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2017": { "text": "1.5% (2017 est.)" } }, "Credit ratings": { "Fitch rating": { "text": "A+ (2007)" }, "Moody's rating": { "text": "A1 (2017)" }, "Standard & Poors rating": { "text": "A+ (2017)" } }, "GDP - composition, by sector of origin": { "agriculture": { "text": "7.9% (2017 est.)" }, "industry": { "text": "40.5% (2017 est.)" }, "services": { "text": "51.6% (2017 est.)" } }, "GDP - composition, by end use": { "household consumption": { "text": "39.1% (2017 est.)" }, "government consumption": { "text": "14.5% (2017 est.)" }, "investment in fixed capital": { "text": "42.7% (2017 est.)" }, "investment in inventories": { "text": "1.7% (2017 est.)" }, "exports of goods and services": { "text": "20.4% (2017 est.)" }, "imports of goods and services": { "text": "-18.4% (2017 est.)" } }, "Agricultural products": { "text": "maize, rice, vegetables, wheat, sugar cane, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons, sweet potatoes" }, "Industries": { "text": "world leader in gross value of industrial output; mining and ore processing, iron, steel, aluminum, and other metals, coal; machine building; armaments; textiles and apparel; petroleum; cement; chemicals; fertilizer; consumer products (including footwear, toys, and electronics); food processing; transportation equipment, including automobiles, railcars and locomotives, ships, aircraft; telecommunications equipment, commercial space launch vehicles, satellites" }, "Industrial production growth rate": { "text": "6.1% (2017 est.)" }, "Labor force": { "text": "774.71 million (2019 est.)", "note": "note: by the end of 2012, China's working age population (15-64 years) was 1.004 billion" }, "Labor force - by occupation": { "agriculture": { "text": "27.7%" }, "industry": { "text": "28.8%" }, "services": { "text": "43.5% (2016 est.)" } }, "Unemployment rate": { "Unemployment rate 2019": { "text": "3.64% (2019 est.)" }, "Unemployment rate 2018": { "text": "3.84% (2018 est.)" }, "note": "note: data are for registered urban unemployment, which excludes private enterprises and migrants" }, "Population below poverty line": { "text": "0.6% (2019 est.)" }, "Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income": { "Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income 2016": { "text": "38.5 (2016 est.)" }, "Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income 2015": { "text": "46.2 (2015 est.)" } }, "Household income or consumption by percentage share": { "lowest 10%": { "text": "2.1%" }, "highest 10%": { "text": "31.4% (2012)" }, "note": "note: data are for urban households only" }, "Budget": { "revenues": { "text": "2.553 trillion (2017 est.)" }, "expenditures": { "text": "3.008 trillion (2017 est.)" } }, "Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)": { "text": "-3.8% (of GDP) (2017 est.)" }, "Public debt": { "Public debt 2017": { "text": "47% of GDP (2017 est.)" }, "Public debt 2016": { "text": "44.2% of GDP (2016 est.)" }, "note": "note: official data; data cover both central and local government debt, including debt officially recognized by China's National Audit Office report in 2011; data exclude policy bank bonds, Ministry of Railway debt, and China Asset Management Company debt" }, "Taxes and other revenues": { "text": "21.3% (of GDP) (2017 est.)" }, "Fiscal year": { "text": "calendar year" }, "Current account balance": { "Current account balance 2019": { "text": "$141.335 billion (2019 est.)" }, "Current account balance 2018": { "text": "$25.499 billion (2018 est.)" } }, "Exports": { "Exports 2020": { "text": "$2,732,370,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Exports 2019": { "text": "$2.631 trillion note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Exports 2018": { "text": "$2,651,010,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)" } }, "Exports - partners": { "text": "United States 17%, Hong Kong 10%, Japan 6% (2019)" }, "Exports - commodities": { "text": "broadcasting equipment, computers, integrated circuits, office machinery and parts, telephones (2019)" }, "Imports": { "Imports 2020": { "text": "$2,362,690,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2020 est.)" }, "Imports 2019": { "text": "$2,499,150,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2019 est.)" }, "Imports 2018": { "text": "$2,563,100,000,000 note: data are in current year dollars (2018 est.)" } }, "Imports - partners": { "text": "South Korea 9%, Japan 8%, Australia 7%, Germany 7%, US 7%, Taiwan 6% (2019)" }, "Imports - commodities": { "text": "crude petroleum, integrated circuits, iron, natural gas, cars, gold (2019)" }, "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold": { "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 31 December 2017": { "text": "$3.236 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)" }, "Reserves of foreign exchange and gold 31 December 2016": { "text": "$3.098 trillion (31 December 2016 est.)" } }, "Debt - external": { "Debt - external 2019": { "text": "$2,027,950,000,000 (2019 est.)" }, "Debt - external 2018": { "text": "$1,935,206,000,000 (2018 est.)" } }, "Exchange rates": { "currency": { "text": "Renminbi yuan (RMB) per US dollar -" }, "Exchange rates 2020": { "text": "6.5374 (2020 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2019": { "text": "7.0403 (2019 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2018": { "text": "6.8798 (2018 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2014": { "text": "6.1434 (2014 est.)" }, "Exchange rates 2013": { "text": "6.1958 (2013 est.)" } } }, "Energy": { "Electricity access": { "electrification - total population": { "text": "100% (2020)" } }, "Electricity - production": { "text": "5.883 trillion kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - consumption": { "text": "5.564 trillion kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - exports": { "text": "18.91 billion kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - imports": { "text": "6.185 billion kWh (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - installed generating capacity": { "text": "1.653 billion kW (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - from fossil fuels": { "text": "62% of total installed capacity (2016 est.)" }, "Electricity - from nuclear fuels": { "text": "2% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)" }, "Electricity - from hydroelectric plants": { "text": "18% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)" }, "Electricity - from other renewable sources": { "text": "18% of total installed capacity (2017 est.)" }, "Crude oil - production": { "text": "3.773 million bbl/day (2018 est.)" }, "Crude oil - exports": { "text": "57,310 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Crude oil - imports": { "text": "6.71 million bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Crude oil - proved reserves": { "text": "25.63 billion bbl (1 January 2018 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - production": { "text": "11.51 million bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - consumption": { "text": "12.47 million bbl/day (2016 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - exports": { "text": "848,400 bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Refined petroleum products - imports": { "text": "1.16 million bbl/day (2015 est.)" }, "Natural gas - production": { "text": "145.9 billion cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - consumption": { "text": "238.6 billion cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - exports": { "text": "3.37 billion cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - imports": { "text": "97.63 billion cu m (2017 est.)" }, "Natural gas - proved reserves": { "text": "5.44 trillion cu m (1 January 2018 est.)" } }, "Communications": { "Telephones - fixed lines": { "total subscriptions": { "text": "181.908 million (2020)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "12.64 (2020 est.)" } }, "Telephones - mobile cellular": { "total subscriptions": { "text": "1,696,356,000 (2020)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "117.9 (2020 est.)" } }, "Telecommunication systems": { "general assessment": { "text": "China has the largest Internet market in the world with almost all subscribers accessing Internet through mobile devices; market is driven through government-allied investment; fast-developing data center market; government aims to provide universal and affordable broadband coverage through market competition and private investment in state-controlled enterprises; 3G and LTE subscribers will migrate to 5G aiming for 1M 5G base stations; government strengthens IoT policies to boost economic growth; China is pushing development of smart cities beyond Beijing; Beijing residents carry virtual card integrating identity, social security, health, and education documents; government controls gateways to global Internet through censorship, surveillance, and shut-downs; major exporter of broadcasting equipment world-wide (2020)" }, "domestic": { "text": "nearly 13 per 100 fixed line and 118 per 100 mobile-cellular; a domestic satellite system with several earth stations has been in place since 2018 (2020)" }, "international": { "text": "country code - 86; landing points for the RJCN, EAC-C2C, TPE, APCN-2, APG, NCP, TEA, SeaMeWe-3, SJC2, Taiwan Strait Express-1, AAE-1, APCN-2, AAG, FEA, FLAG and TSE submarine cables providing connectivity to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US; satellite earth stations - 7 (5 Intelsat - 4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean; 1 Intersputnik - Indian Ocean region; and 1 Inmarsat - Pacific and Indian Ocean regions) (2019)" }, "note": "note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments" }, "Broadcast media": { "text": "all broadcast media are owned by, or affiliated with, the Communist Party of China or a government agency; no privately owned TV or radio stations; state-run Chinese Central TV, provincial, and municipal stations offer more than 2,000 channels; the Central Propaganda Department sends directives to all domestic media outlets to guide its reporting with the government maintaining authority to approve all programming; foreign-made TV programs must be approved prior to broadcast; increasingly, Chinese turn to online and satellite television to access Chinese and international films and television shows (2019)" }, "Internet country code": { "text": ".cn" }, "Internet users": { "total": { "text": "939.8 million (2021 est.)" }, "percent of population": { "text": "70.64% (2020 est.)" } }, "Broadband - fixed subscriptions": { "total": { "text": "483.55 million (2020)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "33.6 (2020 est.)" } } }, "Transportation": { "National air transport system": { "number of registered air carriers": { "text": "56 (2020)" }, "inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers": { "text": "2,890" }, "annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers": { "text": "436,183,969 (2018)" }, "annual freight traffic on registered air carriers": { "text": "611,439,830 mt-km (2018)" } }, "Civil aircraft registration country code prefix": { "text": "B" }, "Airports": { "total": { "text": "507 (2013)" } }, "Airports - with paved runways": { "total": { "text": "510" }, "over 3,047 m": { "text": "87" }, "2,438 to 3,047 m": { "text": "187" }, "1,524 to 2,437 m": { "text": "109" }, "914 to 1,523 m": { "text": "43" }, "under 914 m": { "text": "84 (2019)" } }, "Airports - with unpaved runways": { "total": { "text": "23" }, "over 3,047 m": { "text": "2" }, "2,438 to 3,047 m": { "text": "0" }, "1,524 to 2,437 m": { "text": "1" }, "914 to 1,523 m": { "text": "7" }, "under 914 m": { "text": "13 (2013)" } }, "Heliports": { "text": "39 (2019)" }, "Pipelines": { "text": "76000 km gas, 30400 km crude oil, 27700 km refined petroleum products, 797000 km water (2018)" }, "Railways": { "total": { "text": "131,000 km 1.435-m gauge (80,000 km electrified); 102,000 traditional, 29,000 high-speed (2018)" } }, "Roadways": { "total": { "text": "4,960,600 km (2017)" }, "paved": { "text": "4,338,600 km (includes 136,500 km of expressways) (2017)" }, "unpaved": { "text": "622,000 km (2017)" } }, "Waterways": { "text": "110,000 km (navigable waterways) (2011)" }, "Merchant marine": { "total": { "text": "6,662" }, "by type": { "text": "bulk carrier 1,558, container ship 341, general cargo 957, oil tanker 1,061, other 2,745 (2021)" } }, "Ports and terminals": { "major seaport(s)": { "text": "Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin" }, "container port(s) (TEUs)": { "text": "Dalian (8,760,000), Guangzhou (23,236,200), Ningbo (27,530,000), Qingdao (21,010,000), Shanghai (43,303,000), Shenzhen (25,770,000), Tianjin (17,264,000) (2019)" }, "LNG terminal(s) (import)": { "text": "Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Shanghai, Tangshan, Zhejiang" }, "river port(s)": { "text": "Guangzhou (Pearl)" } }, "Transportation - note": { "text": "seven of the world’s ten largest container ports are in China" } }, "Military and Security": { "Military and security forces": { "text": "People's Liberation Army (PLA): Ground Forces, Navy (PLAN, includes marines and naval aviation), Air Force (PLAAF, includes airborne forces), Rocket Force (strategic missile force), and Strategic Support Force (information, electronic, and cyber warfare, as well as space forces); People's Armed Police (PAP, includes Coast Guard, Border Defense Force, Internal Security Forces); PLA Reserve Force (2021)", "note": "note(s) - the Strategic Support Force includes the Space Systems Department, which is responsible for nearly all PLA space operations, including space launch and support, space surveillance, space information support, space telemetry, tracking, and control, and space warfareestablished in 1927, the PLA is the military arm of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which oversees the PLA through its Central Military Commission; the Central Military Commission is China’s top military decision making body
China’s internal security forces consist primarily of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the People’s Armed Police (PAP), and the militia; the PLA support the internal security forces as necessary:
the MPS controls the civilian national police, which serves as the first-line force for public order; its primary mission is domestic law enforcement and maintaining order, including anti-rioting and anti-terrorism
the MSS is China’s main civilian intelligence and counterintelligence service
the PAP is a paramilitary component of the PLA; its primary missions include internal security, maintaining public order, maritime security, and assisting the PLA in times of war; it is under the command of the Central Military Commission (CMC); the China Coast Guard (CCG) is under the PAP; the CCG has a variety of missions, such as maritime sovereignty enforcement, surveillance, resource protection, anti-smuggling, and general law enforcement
the militia is an armed reserve of civilians which serves as an auxiliary and reserve force for the PLA upon mobilization; it is distinct from the PLA’s reserve forces; militia units are organized around towns, villages, urban sub-districts, and enterprises, and vary widely in composition and mission; they have dual civilian-military command structures; a key component of the militia are the local maritime forces, commonly referred to as the People’s Armed Forces Maritime Militia (PAFMM); the PAFMM consists of mariners (and their vessels) who receive training, equipment, and other forms of support from the Navy and CCG (although the PAFMM remains separate from both) to perform tasks such as maritime patrolling, surveillance and reconnaissance, emergency/disaster response, transportation, search and rescue, and auxiliary tasks in support of naval operations in wartime; the PAFMM’s tasks are often conducted in conjunction or coordination with the Navy and the CCG; it has been used to assert Chinese maritime claims in the East and South China seas
" } }, "Transnational Issues": { "Disputes - international": { "text": "China and India continue their security and foreign policy dialogue started in 2005 related to a number of boundary disputes across the 2,000 mile shared border; India does not recognize Pakistan's 1964 ceding to China of the Aksai Chin, a territory designated as part of the princely state of Kashmir by the British Survey of India in 1865; China claims most of the Indian state Arunachal Pradesh to the base of the Himalayas, but the US recognizes the state of Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory; Bhutan and China continue negotiations to establish a common boundary alignment to resolve territorial disputes arising from substantial cartographic discrepancies, the most contentious of which lie in Bhutan's west along China's Chumbi salient; Chinese maps show an international boundary symbol (the so-called “nine-dash line”) off the coasts of the littoral states of the South China Sea, where China has interrupted Vietnamese hydrocarbon exploration; China asserts sovereignty over Scarborough Reef along with the Philippines and Taiwan, and over the Spratly Islands together with Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Brunei; the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea eased tensions in the Spratlys, and in 2017 China and ASEAN began confidential negotiations for an updated Code of Conduct for the South China Sea designed not to settle territorial disputes but establish rules and norms in the region; this still is not the legally binding code of conduct sought by some parties; Vietnam and China continue to expand construction of facilities in the Spratlys and in early 2018 China began deploying advanced military systems to disputed Spratly outposts; China occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands are also claimed by China and Taiwan; certain islands in the Yalu and Tumen Rivers are in dispute with North Korea; North Korea and China seek to stem illegal migration to China by North Koreans, fleeing privation and oppression; China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with their 2004 Agreement; China and Tajikistan have begun demarcating the revised boundary agreed to in the delimitation of 2002; the decade-long demarcation of the China-Vietnam land boundary was completed in 2009; citing environmental, cultural, and social concerns, China has reconsidered construction of 13 dams on the Salween River, but energy-starved Burma, with backing from Thailand, continues to consider building five hydro-electric dams downstream despite regional and international protests
" }, "Refugees and internally displaced persons": { "refugees (country of origin)": { "text": "303,107 (Vietnam), undetermined (North Korea) (mid-year 2021)" }, "IDPs": { "text": "undetermined (2021)" } }, "Trafficking in persons": { "current situation": { "text": "human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in China and Chinese people abroad; Chinese men, women, and children are victims of forced labor and sex trafficking in at least 60 countries; traffickers also use China as a transit point to subject foreign individuals to trafficking in other countries throughout Asia and in international maritime industries; state-sponsored forced labor is intensifying under the government’s mass detention and political indoctrination campaign against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; well-organized criminal syndicates and local gangs subject Chinese women and girls to sex trafficking within China; women and girls from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and several countries in Africa experience forced labor in domestic service, forced concubinism leading to forced childbearing, and sex trafficking via forced and fraudulent marriage to Chinese men; African and Asian men reportedly experience conditions indicative of forced labor aboard Chinese-flagged fishing vessels; many North Korean refugees and asylum-seekers living in China illegally are particularly vulnerable to trafficking" }, "tier rating": { "text": "Tier 3 — China does not fully meet the minimum standards for elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government prosecuted and convicted some traffickers and continued to cooperate with international authorities to address forced and fraudulent marriages in China; however, there was a government policy or pattern of widespread forced labor, including the continued mass arbitrary detention of more than one million Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and other Muslims in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region; the government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of law enforcement officials allegedly complicit despite continued reports of officials benefiting from, permitting, or directly facilitating sex trafficking; authorities did not report identifying any trafficking victims or referring them to protective services; it is likely that law enforcement arrested and detained unidentified trafficking victims for crimes traffickers compelled them to commit; for the third consecutive year, the government did not report the extent to which it funded anti-trafficking activities in furtherance of the 2013-2020 National Action Plan on Combating Human Trafficking (2020)" } }, "Illicit drugs": { "text": "a major source of precursor chemicals, new psychoactive substances (NPS), and synthetic drugs, including fentanyl precursors and methamphetamine; PRC criminal organizations and organizations from Mexico and Southeast Asia traffic illicit drugs within the PRC as well as to international markets; significant illicit drug consumption of methamphetamine and ketamine; a major destination and transit country for heroin produced in neighboring countries; the PRC remains a major source of NPS sold in North America and Europe
" } } }