China
in 2005, China and India initiate drafting principles to
resolve all aspects of their extensive boundary and territorial
disputes together with a security and foreign policy dialogue to
consolidate discussions related to the boundary, regional nuclear
proliferation, and other matters; recent talks and
confidence-building measures have begun to defuse tensions over
Kashmir, site of the world's largest and most militarized
territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration
of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad
Kashmir and Northern Areas); India does not recognize Pakistan's
ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; about 90,000 ethnic
Tibetan exiles reside primarily in India as well as Nepal and
Bhutan; China asserts sovereignty over the Spratly Islands together
with Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei;
the 2002 "Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China
Sea" has eased tensions in the Spratlys but is not the legally
binding "code of conduct" sought by some parties; in March 2005, the
national oil companies of China, the Philippines, and Vietnam signed
a joint accord on marine seismic activities in the Spratly Islands;
China occupies some of the Paracel Islands also claimed by Vietnam
and Taiwan; China and Taiwan have become more vocal in rejecting
both Japan's claims to the uninhabited islands of Senkaku-shoto
(Diaoyu Tai) and Japan's unilaterally declared exclusive economic
zone in the East China Sea, the site of intensive hydrocarbon
prospecting; certain islands in the Yalu and Tumen rivers are in an
uncontested dispute with North Korea and a section of boundary
around Mount Paektu is considered indefinite; China seeks to stem
illegal migration of tens of thousands of North Koreans; in 2004,
China and Russia divided up the islands in the Amur, Ussuri, and
Argun Rivers, ending a century-old border dispute; demarcation of
the China-Vietnam boundary proceeds slowly and although the maritime
boundary delimitation and fisheries agreements were ratified in June
2004, implementation has been delayed; environmentalists in Burma
and Thailand remain concerned about China's construction of
hydroelectric dams upstream on the Nujiang/Salween River in Yunnan
Province
Christmas Island
none
Clipperton Island
none
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
none
Colombia
Nicaragua filed a claim against Honduras in 1999 and
against Colombia in 2001 at the ICJ over disputed maritime boundary
involving 50,000 sq km in the Caribbean Sea, including the
Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank;
dispute with Venezuela over maritime boundary and Los Monjes Islands
near the Gulf of Venezuela; Colombian-organized illegal narcotics,
guerrilla, and paramilitary activities penetrate all of its
neighbors' borders and have created a serious refugee crisis with
over 300,000 persons having fled the country, mostly into
neighboring states
Comoros
claims French-administered Mayotte
Congo, Democratic Republic of the heads of the Great Lakes states and UN pledge to end conflict but unchecked tribal, rebel, and militia fighting continues unabated in the northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, drawing in the neighboring states of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda; the UN Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) has maintained over 14,000 peacekeepers in the region since 1999; thousands of Ituri refugees from the Congo continue to flee the fighting primarily into Uganda; 90,000 Angolan refugees were repatriated by 2004 with the remainder in the Democratic Republic of the Congo expected to return in 2005; in 2005, DROC and Rwanda established a border verification mechanism to address accusations of Rwandan military supporting Congolese rebels and the DROC providing rebel Rwandan "Interhamwe" forces the means and bases to attack Rwandan forces; the location of the boundary in the broad Congo River with the Republic of the Congo is indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area
Congo, Republic of the
about 7,000 Congolese refugees fleeing
internal civil conflicts since the mid-1990s still reside in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo; the location of the boundary in
the broad Congo River with the Democratic Republic of the Congo is
indefinite except in the Pool Malebo/Stanley Pool area
Cook Islands
none
Coral Sea Islands
none