Asia

Dubai  is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).^[5] It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the country. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the country’s Federal Supreme Council.^[6][7] The city of Dubai is located on the emirate’s northern coastline and heads the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Dubai will host World Expo 2020.^[8]

Dubai emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East.^[9] It is also a major transport hub for passengers and cargo. By the 1960s, Dubai’s economy was based on revenues from trade and, to a smaller extent, oil exploration concessions, but oil was not discovered until 1966. Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969.^[10] Dubai’s oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low: today, less than 5% of the emirate’s revenue comes from oil.^[11]

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in East Asia. Along with Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and several other major cities in Guangdong, the territory forms a core part of the Pearl River Delta metropolitan region, the most populated area in the world. With over 7.4 million Hongkongers of various nationalities^{[note 1]} in a territory of 1,104 square kilometres (426 sq mi), Hong Kong is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world.

Hong Kong was formerly a colony of the British Empire, after the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island from Qing China at the conclusion of the First Opium War in 1842. Originally a lightly populated area of farming and fishing villages,^[14] the territory has become one of the most significant financial centres and trade ports in the world.^[15] With the exception of the Second World War, during which the colony was occupied by the Empire of Japan, Hong Kong remained under British control until 1997, when it was returned to China. As a special administrative region, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system apart from mainland China.^[e]

Indonesia officially the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia [rɛpublik ɪndonesia]),^{[lacks stress]} is a unitary, transcontinental sovereign state located mainly in Southeast Asia, with some territories in Oceania. Situated between the Indian and Pacific oceans, it is the world’s largest island country, with more than thirteen thousand islands.^[12] At 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles), Indonesia is the world’s 14th largest country in terms of land area and the 7th largest in terms of combined sea and land area.^[13]With over 261 million people, it is the world’s 4th most populous country as well as the most populous Austronesian and Muslim-majority country. Java, the world’s most populous island,^[14] contains more than half of the country’s population.

Japan  is a sovereign island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and China in the southwest.

The kanji that make up Japan’s name mean “sun origin”, and it is often called the “Land of the Rising Sun”. Japan is a stratovolcanicarchipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku, which make up about ninety-seven percent of Japan’s land area and often are referred to as home islands. The country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions, with Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one. The population of 127 million is the world’s tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98.5% of Japan’s total population. About 9.1 million people live in Tokyo,^[15] the capital of Japan.

Malaysia ; is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. Peninsular Malaysia borders Thailand in the north and Singapore in the south, Vietnam in the northeast, and Indonesia in the west; Malaysian Borneo borders Brunei and Indonesia. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur.

With a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the world’s 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia. In the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries, with large numbers of endemic species.

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia‘s Riau Islands to the south and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore’s territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 square kilometres or 50 square miles).

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand and formerly known as Siam, is a unitary state at the center of the Southeast Asian Indochinese peninsula composed of 76 provinces. At 513,120 km² and over 68 million people, Thailand is the world’s 50th largest country by total area and the 21st-most-populous country. The capital and largest city is Bangkok, a special administrative area. Thailand is bordered to the north by Myanmar and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the southern extremity of Myanmar. Its maritime boundaries include Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand to the southeast, and Indonesia and India on the Andaman Sea to the southwest.