China stretches some 5,000 kilometers across the East Asian landmass in a changing configuration of broad plains, expansive deserts, and lofty mountain ranges, including vast areas of inhospitable terrain. The eastern half of the country, its seacoast fringed with offshore islands, is a region of fertile lowlands, foothills and mountains, desert, steppes, and subtropical areas. The western half of China is a region of sunken basins, rolling plateaus, and towering massifs, including a portion of the highest tableland on earth. The official Chinese figure for the size of China is 9.6 million square kilometers, making the country the third largest country in the world in terms of area. Substantially smaller than the Soviet Union, slightly smaller than Canada, and somewhat larger than the United States.
China lies largely at the same latitudes as the United States.
In 1987 China's borders were disputed at a number of points. The 6,542-kilometer frontier with the Soviet Union has been a source of continual friction. In 1954 China published maps showing substantial portions of Soviet Siberian territory as its own. A major dispute between China and India focuses on the northern edge of their shared border, where the Aksai Chin area of northeastern Jammu and Kashmir is under Chinese control but claimed by India. Malaysia claims the islands and reefs in the southernmost area, and there also is a potential for dispute over the islands with Brunei.