Hong Kong

  • Contested territories
  • Chief Executive Carrie Lam
  • Population 7,482,500
  • Area 2,744 km²
  • Languages Cantonese, Mandarin, English

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China (HKSAR), is a city and administrative region in southern China. In the fallout from the first Opium War in 1842, the island of Hong Kong was ceded to the British empire who was later granted the ‘New Territories’ in the north on a ninety-nine year lease in 1898. Upon the expiration of this lease, the entire territory was returned to China with a degree of autonomy guaranteed for fifty years under the principle of ‘one country, two systems’. However, since the 1997 handover, this autonomy has been eroded faster than predicted, a process that has only quickened since the widespread protests of 2019. Although support for independence is low (20% in 2020), public support for a more democratic political system and for greater autonomy from China remains high.

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Transnistria

Transnistria is a small strip of land located between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border with Ukraine. It declared independence in 1990, but has only been recognized as a sovereign entity by—the also unrecognized—South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh. The United Nations still legally considers Transnistria a part of the Republic of Moldova. The most well known company in Transnistria is called Sheriff—it owns a chain of petrol stations, a chain of supermarkets, a TV channel, a publishing house, a construction company, a Mercedes-Benz dealership, an advertising agency, a spirits factory, two bread factories, a mobile phone network, the football club FC Sheriff Tiraspol and its newly built Sheriff Stadium.

Pratas Islands

The Pratas Islands, also known as the Dongsha Islands or Tungsha Islands, are a group of atolls, coral reefs and sea banks. There is only one part that is above sea level: Pratas island. The People’s Republic of China claim them but Taiwan controls them and has declared them part of the Dongsha Atoll National Park. On Pratas island there is a small airport, a shrine, a service station for boats and a library with over 2000 books.

Kingdom of Lovely

The internet based micronation Kingdom of Lovely was the result of a television program hosted by British comedian Danny Wallace: ‘How To Start Your Own Country’. The initial location for the micronation was Wallace’s own flat in London. Anyone could become an ambassador simply by registering online and sending in a photograph of your ‘embassy’ with the flag. Wallace also attempted to get the Kingdom recognized by the United Nations, which failed as he did not have any independent territory.