This page was created to coordinate efforts to standardize the area dispute between People's Republic of China and United States. Main points of dispute (and agreement) follow.
Please discuss changes on the talk page, not here.
Infoboxes
editAgreement
As of Sept 2006, both articles list themselves as 3rd in their infoboxes, with a reference to the dispute.
Proposal
editTo mention the dispute and refernce the geography section for explaination.
Intro
editDispute
The US article mentions the dispute in it's intro. The China article doesn't. Both are displayed below.
US
editAt over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.5 million km²), the U.S. is the third or fourth largest country by total area, depending on whether or not the disputed areas of China are included. It is also the world's third most populous nation, with nearly 300 million people.
China
editAt over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.1 million km²), the PRC is the third largest country by area. It is also the world's most populous nation, with over 1.3 billion people.
Proposal
editTo list 3rd (in both articles) and reference the discription of the dispute in the geography section.
Geography Section
editDisagreement
The PRC article mentions the dispute in it's geography section. The US article doesn't. The PRC's article is also a bit ambiguous. The relevant parts are displayed below.
US
editThe United States is the world's third largest country by land area, after Russia and Canada.[1].
China
editThe PRC is the largest country in area in East Asia (excluding Russia) and the third largest [2] in the world by land-and-sea area. (However, due to a recent change in the method used by the United States to calculate its surface area, some countries and international organisations list the United States as third largest. [3])
Ambiguity
editThe ambiguity deals with "However, due to a recent change in the method used by the United States to calculate its surface area, some countries and international organisations list the United States as third largest." Which country is it referring to?
Proposal
editTo explain both sides of the dispute in depth in this section, using the same basic info in both articles.
General Information
editThe dispute arises with what area should be included in the estimates. The possible areas to include are:
- Land area
- Water area
- Official territories
- Disputed territories (Taiwan, etc)
The dispute arrieses when the last three get added. Based on land area alone, PRC is third. Water area pushes the US above PRC. Official territories keep the US there. Unofficial territories push PRC back into into the third spot. We need to come to a consensus about which are included and how it is worded.
- ^ Rank Order- Area. 20 April 2006. CIA World Factbook. URL accessed 3 May 2006.
- ^ "The People's Republic of China" (September 7, 2005). Foreign & Commonwealth Office
- ^ "Rank Order - Area" (March 29, 2006). CIA World Factbook.