China

China is the country with the longest continuous history; even its written history spans 3,500 years. It is the world’s fastest growing economy and has a population of 1.4 billion. The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 and has been in power since 1949. The former British colony Hong Kong was handed over to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. For the past decade Beijing has made the modernisation of its navy a key objective. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and says the island must eventually be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.