Question about "中国"

Question

So I stumbled on this 例文 :

韓国人の友人によると、中国では韓国語学習者が増えているらしい。

with the english translation that follow :

According to my Korean friend, the number of the learners of Korean is increasing.

the 中国では part is what bothering me, even more after finding on Jisho and ejje.weblio :

中国 "3.central part of a country; main region ​Only applies to ちゅうごく"

I've always seen 中国 as China, but now i'm wondering if there could be another use of this word, since this sentence doesn't clearly say "China", maybe I'm just overcomplicating all this, but I'm really curious!

So : " In China there is more and more ppl learning Korean "

or : " Yeah in THAT COUNTRY there is more and more people learning Korean "

Can 中国 be really use as to describe ANY COUNTRY's "central part/main region"?

(Or can you give me an example where this meaning is correctly used?)

ありがとう~ edit: spelling

Answer 1

This seems like just a simple omission in the translation, which should be
"According to my Korean friend, the number of learners of Korean in China is increasing". Unless there is specific context to indicate otherwise, the most obvious usage usually makes the most sense.

Also, although 中国 can describe central regions, it is usually specified by attaching some other word. For example, in Japan there is 中国地方 the central region of Honshu. You could certainly just use 中国 as an abbreviation of that, as long as it was understood that is what you meant. But in general 中国 on its own refers to China.