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The People’s Republic of China is huge.
Not only is it the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion
people, it’s massive landwise.
The country is approximately 3,700,000 square miles (9,600,000 square kilometers) making
it slightly larger than the United States in land area.
Although China spans 5 geographical time zones, the whole country follows a single standard
time.
China’s home to 56 ethnic groups.
Linguists estimate that there are nearly 300 living languages spoken in China with Mandarin
Chinese having the most speakers-- around 955 million people.
China is governed by the Communist Party of China which administers the country from the
capital of Beijing.
The country is rapidly developing and is on track to become a superpower.
Here are 6 places China is attempting to subjugate to expand its borders, economic and global
influence.
Number 1: Tibet - China has a long and volatile relationship with Tibet.
Beginning in the 13th century and throughout different periods in history, Tibet has been
ruled by Chinese and Mogolian dynasties and has also been an independent nation.
In the first quarter of the 20th century, Tibet was ruled by Great Britain before once
again became an independent nation.
In 1950 Chinese troops invaded Tibet to enforce China’s age old claim on the country.
Some areas became the Tibetan Autonomous Region and others were assimilated into neighboring
Chinese provinces.
In 1959, after a failed anti-Chinese revolt, the spiritual leader of Tibet, the 14th Dalai
Lama fled the country and set up a government in exile in India.
During China's Cultural Revolution, many Buddhist monasteries were destroyed and thousands of
Tibetans were likely slaughtered during martial law.
Due to international pressure, in the 1980s China somewhat relaxed its grip on Tibet and
implemented reforms.
Currently Beijing continues to modernize Tibet, sometimes at the cost of the region’s cultural
heritage.
Development has brought Han Chinese migrants and western tourism to the area.
Since the early 2000s there have been protests in Tibet, especially on the anniversaries
of politically significant dates.
Human rights groups say that China continues to politically and religiously repression
Tibet.
Various activists worldwide campaign for an independent Tibet.
There are several strategic and economic motives China has for governing the region.
Tibet is highly important to China’s sense of self and Chinese nationalism.
Many Chinese leaders past and present have believed that no matter the lines drawn on
a map, Tibet is fundamentally a part of China.
They’ve felt a strong nationalistic drive to return China to its ancient far flung Qing
Dynasty borders.
Tibet also serves as a buffer zone between China on one side and India, Nepal, and Bangladesh
on the other.
The Himalayan mountain range provides natural security as well as a military advantage.
China is currently struggling to find a balance between environmental issues and yet not hinder
the country's economic industry.
China is hungry for natural resources and Tibet serves as a crucial water source as
well as possessing significant mineral wealth.
Since the early 2000’s Beijing has invested billions in Tibet as part of its wide-ranging
economic development plan for Western China.
Number 2: Arunachal Pradesh - China also claims that the region of Arunachal Pradesh, the
northeasternmost state of the 28 states of India is a part of south Tibet and therefore
a part of China.
Aside from India, Taiwan also claims the South Tibet region.
Arunachal Pradesh borders the Indian states of Assam and Nagaland to the south, and countries
Bhutan to the west, Myanmar to the east.
To the north, the demarcation line known as the McMahon line separates Arunachal Pradesh
from the Tibetan area of China.
Historically Arunachal Pradesh belong to neither China nor India, but was dominated by several
autonomous tribes.
In 1913–1914 representatives from Great Britain, China, and Tibet held the Simla Conference
to decide on border lines for Tibet.
The Tibetan and British officials agreed on the McMahon line as the border between British
India and Outer Tibet.
The Chinese representatives refused the demarcation line and have considered it invalid ever since.
When China invaded Tibet in 1950 and the Dalai Lama later fled Tibet, India supported the
Tibetan government, angering China.
During the Sino-Indian border conflict of 1962, China captured most of the area of Arunachal
Pradesh, but ended up withdrawing.
In recent years, tensions have risen as China has publicly claimed the region of Arunachal
Pradesh.
China is especially interested in a small district called Tawang, which borders Tibet
and Bhutan.
China has even gone so far as to destroy thousands of maps and make new ones having renamed parts
of Arunachal Pradesh with Chinese names.
India, while not growing as fast as China, is still emerging as a regional economic powerhouse.
China wants dominate Asia and sometimes seems to look for ways to clash with India.
Most importantly, it is strongly assumed that there are heavy deposits of minerals such
as gold and lithium in Arunachal Pradesh.
A large scale Chinese mining found gold and silver deposits worth around $60 billion in
the Lhunze county of Tibet which is directly adjacent to Arunachal Pradesh.
Number 3: Aksai Chin - China and India also clash over another border region, Aksai Chin,
near Kashmir.
Aksai Chin is mainly in Hotan County, in the southwestern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous
Region with a small area on the southeast and south sides lying within the extreme west
of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
India claims Aksai Chin as a part of the Ladakh region of the Jammu and Kashmir state.
Aksai Chin is a remote, inhospitable region where mainly nomadic tribes roam.
The area was ignored until the 1950s when China built a military road through it to
connect Tibet with Xinjiang.
India was angry upon discovery of the road and it ended up becoming a major factor in
the Sino-Indian border conflict of 1962.
At the end of the clash, China retained control of about 14,700 square miles (38,000 square
km) of territory in Aksai Chin.
In 1993 and 1996, the two countries signed agreements to respect the Line of Actual Control,
the demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory
in Jammu and Kashmir.
Not only does wants China want Aksai Chin for maintaining a direct route between Tibet
and Xinjiang, it appreciates the territory for its strategic position.
Aksai Chin is mostly high ground with an average elevation of around 17,000 feet (5,180 metres).
If China ever goes to war with its neighbors Pakistan, Kashmir and India, the Aksai Chin
region will enable it to take a commanding, high position.
Number 4: The South China Sea - As well as claiming disputed land, China has also claimed
islands in the South China Sea.
In fact, China has taken to dredging the sea and building out uninhabited islands such
as Woody Island or the Spratly Islands to tighten its control over the region.
Six countries: The Philippines, Vietnam, China, Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia hold different
territorial, sometimes overlapping claims over the South China sea, based on various
historical accounts and geography.
Adding to the tension, the US navy frequently patrols the sea due to its alliance with several
countries.
China considers this to be provocation.
The South China Sea is very important to Beijing because it’s a crucial commercial passage
connecting Asia with Europe and Africa.
One third of global shipping or $3.37 trillion USD dollars of international trade passes
through the South China Sea.
Furthermore, the seabed is rich with major oil and gas reserves.
The US Energy Information Administration estimates the region contains at least 11 billion barrels
of crude oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Also the South China Sea is a vital food source, accounting for 10% of the world’s fisheries.
In July 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled that China had no “historic
rights” over the sea and that some of the rocky outcrops claimed by several countries
could not legally be used as the basis for territorial claims.
Beijing rejected the ruling.
More recently some southeast Asian nations have considered having bilateral talks with
China to settle the dispute.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN has been working with China to create
an official code of conduct to avoid clashes in the disputed waters.
Number 5: Taiwan - China has had an ongoing dispute with Taiwan for decades.
It views Taiwan as a breakaway province that will eventually be part of the country again,
but many Taiwanese citizens want a completely separate nation.
Historically Taiwan was a part of China.
Taiwan was governed by China's Qing dynasty from 1683 to 1895.
When Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, China has to cede the region to them.
After World War II, Japan was forced to relinquish to China control of the territory it had previously
taken.
Civil war broke out in China in 1946 and ended in a victory for Mao Zedong’s Communist
army.
Chiang Kai-shek and his Chinese Nationalist Party--known as the Kuomintang, or KMT fled
to Taiwan.
The KMT dominated Taiwan's politics for many years, until after Chiang Kai-shek’s death.
Having inherited an effective dictatorship and under pressure from a burgeoning democracy
movement, Chiang's son, Chiang Ching-kuo, began allowing a process of democratisation,
which in 2000 led to the election of the island's first non-KMT president, Chen Shui-bian.
Meanwhile China treated Taiwan with great hostility.
In the 1980s, relations between China and Taiwan started improving.
China put forth the "one country, two systems" plan under which Taiwan would be given significant
autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification.
Taiwan refused, but did relax rules for its citizens to visit and investment in China.
Since the 1970s, the US has been a close ally of Taiwan and has sold billions in defensive
weapons to the country.
Currently, US policy in the region has been described as "strategic ambiguity", seeking
to balance recognition of China's emergence as a regional power with US support for Taiwan's
economic success and democratisation.
In recent years China has been alarmed by Tawianese citizens electing politicians who
favor independence from China.
Furthermore, the Taiwanese public has staged various protests about Beijing's policies
regarding the country.
Currently Taiwan’s legal status is unclear, in limbo.
The country has its own constitution, democratically elected leaders, and is own armed forces with
about 300,000 active troops.
China wants Taiwan to return to the fold because of nationalism.
Also Taiwan being a part of China is a strategic defensive move.
If Taiwan was to become an independent nation, with its close ties to America, the US would
likely have a naval port and military base in Taiwan, right on China’s doorstep.
Number 6: Hong Kong - One final place where China is attempting to expand its power is
Hong Kong.
At the end of the first Opium War in 1842, part of Hong Kong Island became a British
colony.
Later, China leased the rest of Hong Kong - the New Territories - to the British for
99 years.
By the 1950s, Hong Kong had become a busy commercial port, and a manufacturing hub.
As the end of the 99-year-lease approached, Britain and China held talks on the future
of Hong Kong.
In 1984 a deal was reached that Hong Kong would return to China in 1997, under the principle
of "one country, two systems".
As a result, Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy with its own legal system and borders,
and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech for the next 50 years.
However in recent years Beijing has been treading on Hong Kong rights.
Artists and writers say they are under increased pressure to self-censor and democracy has
been limited, the current leader was elected by a 1,200-member pro-Beijing election committee
chosen by just 6% of eligible voters.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2019 large protests erupted in Hong Kong in response
to a proposed bill permitting the extradition of fugitives to mainland China.
Citizens worry the bill will be used to target, detain and extradite political dissents.
Beijing's response to the protests has become increasingly violent as the citizens show
no signs of backing down.
China considers Hong Kong a bridge between Asia and the west for business and financial
matters.
Also, once again China’s domination of Hong Kong seems to be fueled by nationlistic fervor.
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Do you think Hong Kong should be its own country?
Why or why not?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video Why War With China Will Get You Drafted!
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