Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 5.9% (FY98)
Syria Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: Golan Heights is Israeli occupied; dispute with upstream riparian Turkey over Turkish water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Syrian troops in northern, central, and eastern Lebanon since October 1976
Illicit drugs: a transit point for opiates and hashish bound for regional and Western markets
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@Taiwan
Taiwan Introduction
Background: In 1895, military defeat forced China to cede Taiwan to Japan, however it reverted to Chinese control after World War II. Following the communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. Over the next five decades, the ruling authorities gradually democratized and incorporated the native population within its governing structure. Throughout this period, the island has prospered to become one of East Asia's economic "Tigers." The dominant political issue continues to be the relationship between Taiwan and China and the question of eventual reunification.
Taiwan Geography
Location: Eastern Asia, islands bordering the East China Sea,
Philippine Sea, South China Sea, and Taiwan Strait, north of the
Philippines, off the southeastern coast of China