to primary Middle Eastern petroleum sources; strategic location between China and Taiwan Climate: tropical; little daily or seasonal temperature variation Terrain: five volcanic islands steep, hilly Natural resources: timber, gemstones, some iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc, natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, molybdenum, tungsten, phosphates, tin, hydropower, gold, limestone Land use: arable land: 28% permanent crops: 20% meadows and pastures: 7% forest and woodland: 0% other: 93% Irrigated land: 25,850 km2 (1989 est.) Environment: dense tropical rain forest,
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