Editing Southeast Asia (section)

===Boundaries===
{{Further|Boundaries between the continents of Earth}}

Geographically, Southeast Asia is bounded to the southeast by the [[Australia (continent)|Australian continent]], the boundary between these two regions is most often considered to run through [[Wallacea]].<!--

[[Halmahera]], [[Seram]], [[Kai Islands]], [[Tanimbar Islands]] and [[Timor]] on the Asian side.

[[New Guinea]], the [[Aru Islands]] and [[Raja Ampat Islands]] on the Australian side.

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[[File:OutlineWorldMap-Ekert4WinkelTripel-Meridian127-EastHemisphere.svg|thumb|World Map in outline centred on Southeast Asia, [[Pacific Asia]], [[Melanesia]] and [[Australia]].]]
Geopolitically, the boundary lies between Papua New Guinea and the [[regions of Indonesia|Indonesian region]] of [[Western New Guinea]] (Papua and [[West Papua (province)|West Papua]]). Both countries share the island of [[New Guinea]].

Islands to the east of the Philippines make up the region of [[Micronesia]]. These islands are not biogeographically, geologically or historically linked to mainland Asia, and are considered part of Oceania by the [[United Nations]], ''[[The World Factbook]]'', and other organisations.<ref name="stats">{{cite web |url=https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/ |title=Methodology: Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49) |website=[[United Nations Statistics Division]]}}</ref> The Oceania region is politically represented through the [[Pacific Islands Forum]], a governing body which, up until 2022, included Australia, [[New Zealand]] and all independent territories in [[Melanesia]], Micronesia, and [[Polynesia]]. Several countries of Maritime Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, are dialogue partners of the Pacific Islands Forum, but none have full membership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forumsec.org/who-we-arepacific-islands-forum/|title=The Pacific Islands Forum – Forum Sec}}</ref>

Maritime Southeast Asia was often grouped with Australia and Oceania in the mid to late 1800s, rather than with mainland Asia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Martin W. |last2=Wigen |first2=Kären E. |quote=As is explained in note 71 (this chapter), insular Southeast Asia was often grouped with Oceania instead of with Asia in the middle and late 1800s.| title=The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography |date=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=223 |isbn=9780520207424 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLT8X5E3bZIC&dq=%22oceania%22+%22malay+archipelago%22+excluded&pg=PA223 |access-date=4 June 2022}}</ref> The term Oceania came into usage at the beginning of the 1800s, and the earlier definitions predated the advent of concepts such as Wallacea.

The non-continental Australian external territories of [[Christmas Island]] and [[Cocos (Keeling) Islands]] are sometimes considered part of Maritime Southeast Asia, as they lie in much closer proximity to western Indonesia than they do to mainland Australia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=M. Athyal |first1=Jesudas |title=Religion in Southeast Asia: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures |date=2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=40 |isbn=9781610692502 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-RfYBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22christmas+island%22+%22in+southeast+asia%22&pg=PA40 |access-date=10 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wildlifetourism.org.au/christmas-island-australias-gem-in-the-indian-ocean/|title=Christmas Island – Australia's Gem In The Indian Ocean}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://parksaustralia.gov.au/christmas/pub/bird-brochure.pdf|title=Christmas and Cocos Keeling Islands Birding Guide|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819191359/https://parksaustralia.gov.au/christmas/pub/bird-brochure.pdf|archive-date=19 August 2014}}</ref> They have a [[multiculturalism|multicultural]] mix of inhabitants with Asian and [[European Australian]] ancestry, and were uninhabited when discovered by the British during the 17th century.<ref name="gov">{{cite web|url=https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/api/records/a05f7892-8f70-7506-e044-00144fdd4fa6|title=BMR Cruise 107: Seabed Morphology and Offshore Resources around Christmas Island, Indian Ocean|website=Product catalogue}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/pub/scientific-publications/archive/conservation-christmas-cocos.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305182602/https://parksaustralia.gov.au/marine/pub/scientific-publications/archive/conservation-christmas-cocos.pdf |url-status=live |title=Conservation values in Commonwealth waters of the Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Island remote Australian territories |archive-date=5 March 2021 |publisher=CSIRO |date=August 2009 |access-date=1 June 2022}}</ref> The islands lie within the bounds of the [[Australian Plate]], and are defined by ''The World Factbook'' as the westernmost extent of Oceania.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/cocos-keeling-islands/ |title=Cocos (Keeling) Islands - The World Factbook |publisher=Cia.gov |date=24 June 2022 |access-date=10 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/christmas-island/|title=Christmas Island|date=24 June 2022|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency|via=CIA.gov}}</ref> The United Nations also include these islands in their definition of Oceania, under the same subregion as Australia and New Zealand.<ref name="stats"/>