South-East Asia

Introduction

Many of Australia's neighbours are South-East Asian nations. These form part of the South-East Asian region which physically stretches from the south-eastern peninsula to the East Asian archipelago. It is also roughly bounded by the Indian subcontinent to the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. The region also includes the Indochina Peninsula, which juts into the South China Sea, the Malay Peninsula, and the Indonesian and Philippine Archipelagos. It can be further divided into the regions of Peninsular South-East Asia, which is bounded by mountains and great rivers such as the Thanlwin, Ayeyarwady, Chao Phraya, and Mekong, as well as Insular South-East Asia, which is made up of numerous volcanic and coral islands. The boundary between Australia and this region is commonly placed between the island of Papua New Guinea and the northern Australian coastline.

The name 'South-East Asia' has come into popular use since the Second World War and has replaced the use of former phrases for the region such as 'Further India', 'Indo-China', 'the East Indies' and 'the Malay Peninsula'. It consists of ten countries that include: Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Vietnam.

South-East Asian neighbours

Indonesia

Indonesia is situated to the immediate north of Australia in the Malay Archipelago. It shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, Brunei and Malaysia. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world, with 60 percent of its large population crowded into the island of Java and its national capital, Jakarta. It consists of an arc of 17 508 islands, 6000 of which are inhabited. The archipelago spans three time zones along the equator from the Malaysian mainland toward Australia, forming a natural barrier between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is 5150 kilometres from east to west and 2012 kilometres from north to south. Its islands include Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi, as well as Borneo and western New Guinea. Other islands include Timor and Bali.

Brunei

Brunei, officially the state of Brunei Darussalam, is located on the north coast of the island of Borneo on the South China Sea. The country is 5765 square kilometres in size and is divided into two main sections separated by Brunei Bay and surrounded by Sarawak, Malaysia. Its capital and major port is Bandar Seri Begawan, which is occupied by a population of roughly 46 229. Brunei's current size reflects the decline of its native sultanate's power since the nineteenth century, when Brunei became a haven for pirates and the British established a protectorate over it in 1888. Neighbouring parts of Borneo became British colonies and in 1963 became part of Malaysia, while Brunei remained a separate state.

Malaysia

Malaysia is an archipelago 131 313 square kilometres in size and divided into two regions separated by 640 kilometres of the South China Sea. The first is West Malaysia, also called Peninsular Malaysia because it is the south end of a long peninsula. It is located on the Malay Peninsula and borders Thailand to the north, the South China Sea to the east, Singapore to the south (separated by the Johore Strait), and the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea to the west. It includes the states of Perils, Kedah, Pinang, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka (Malacca), and Johor. It also includes two federal territories, Wilayah Persekutuan, containing the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya. The second of these regions is East Malaysia with a size of 201 320 square kilometres and bordering the South China Sea and Sulu Sea to the north, the Celebes Sea to the east, and Kalimantan, or Indonesian Borneo, to the south and west. It contains the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo and one federal territory that comprises the island of Labuan. Sharing the coastline of Sarawak is the independent state of Brunei.

Cambodia

Cambodia shares a border with Laos to the north, Vietnam to the east, the Gulf of Thailand to the south and Thailand to the west and north. It contains 20 provinces and four municipalities with a population of 10 561 000 and covering 181 035 square kilometres, including its capital and largest city, Phnom Penh. Cambodia's borders reflect its physical boundaries in a rolling plain which is drained by the Mekong River and shut off by surrounding mountains. Its frontier with Thailand is formed by the Dangrek Mountains in the northwest and the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Range in the southwest.

Laos

Laos is surrounded by land and is bordered by China to the north, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand and Myanmar to the west. The country is divided into 16 provinces across 236 800 square kilometres and has a population of 4 250 000. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane, with other important cities including Savannaket, Pakse, and the former royal capital of Luang Phabang. The country's borders are physically shaped by the direction of the Mekong River, which flows in a broad valley, and forms the boundaries with Myanmar and Thailand.

Myanmar

Myanmar, which is also referred to as Burma, shares a border with Bangladesh, India, and the Bay of Bengal to the west, China to the north and northwest, Laos and Thailand to the east, and with the Andaman Sea to the south. The country is divided into seven administrative divisions and seven States across 678 033 square kilometres and contains a population of 44 277 014. Its capital and largest city is Yangon (Rangoon).

The Philippines

The Philippines is situated off the South-East Asian mainland in the Malay Archipelago between the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The total landmass is 300 000 square kilometres and consists of more than 7000 islands, of which only about 400 are inhabited and contain about 73 265 000 people. The largest of these islands, containing roughly 95% of the total land area, include Luzon, Mindanao, Samar, Palawan, Panay, Negros, Mindoro, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, and Masbate. Its internal borders encompass 72 provinces and 61 chartered cities, its capital and largest city being Manila on the island of Luzon. Externally, the Philippine Islands share a border with Taiwan along the Bashi Channel which is 80 kilometres wide. It extends 1108 kilometres from east to west, and is bounded by the Philippine Sea on the east, the Celebes Sea on the south, and the South China Sea on the west. These boundaries are reflected in the physical divisions of Luzon and other islands in the north, the central-lying Visayan Island, Palawan and Mindoro, and Mindanao and Sulu Archipelago in the south.

Thailand

Thailand occupies a central position in the Southeast Asian region and is 514 000 square kilometres in size, extending south into the Malay Peninsula with coastline along the Gulf of Thailand and on the Andaman Sea. It borders Cambodia on the southeast, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia on the south, Myanmar on the west and northwest, and Laos on the north and east, with the Mekong River forming a physical boundary along the line. Internally, the country is divided into 76 provinces, hosting a population of 60 271 000. Its capital and largest city is Bangkok.

Singapore

Singapore is located on an island 544 square kilometres in size that is joined by a causeway to the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and extends across 60 small adjacent islands. Singapore's capital and chief port is Singapore city, which occupies the whole island as its population of near 2 890 000 people has become urbanised. The country lies at the convergence of some of the world's major sea-lanes, north of the equator, between the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. It is separated from Indonesia to the south by the Singapore Strait and from Malaysia to the north by the Johore Strait.

Vietnam

Vietnam is situated along the eastern coastline of the Southeast Asian peninsula. It is 332 642 square kilometres in size with a population of 74 393 000, sharing a northern border with China, western border with Laos and Cambodia, as well as eastern and southern borders with the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea. The capital is Hanoi and the largest city is Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.