Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.5% (FY98)
Transnational Issues Vietnam
Disputes - international:
demarcation of the land boundary with China continues, but maritime
boundary and joint fishing zone agreement remains unratified;
Cambodia and Laos protest Vietnamese squatters and armed
encroachments along border; China occupies Paracel Islands also
claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan; involved in a complex dispute over
Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and
possibly Brunei; claimants in November 2002 signed the "Declaration
on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea", a mechanism to
ease tension but which fell short of a legally binding "code of
conduct"
Illicit drugs:
minor producer of opium poppy; probable minor transit point for
Southeast Asian heroin; domestic opium/heroin/methamphetamine
addiction problems
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
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@Virgin Islands
Introduction Virgin Islands
Background: During the 17th century, the archipelago was divided into two territorial units, one English and the other Danish. Sugarcane, produced by slave labor, drove the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1917, the US purchased the Danish portion, which had been in economic decline since the abolition of slavery in 1848.
Geography Virgin Islands