Countries That Border China

China has an area of 3,700,000 square miles and shares borders with 14 self-governing states. China is located in East Asia and had an estimated population of 1.379 billion in 2016. The country has a total land border of 13,743 miles making it the country with the longest land border in the world. China also shares a border with the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong. The border with Hong Kong is 18.64 miles long and the one with Macau 1.86 miles.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan shares a border with China to the Southwest. The Chinese-Afghanistan border is 47 miles long and begins where the two countries border Pakistan and end where they border Tajikistan. There is a nature reserve on each side of the border, Taxkorgan Nature Reserve in China and the Wakhan Corridor Nature Refuge in Afghanistan. The border was formerly the Silk Road, and the border was agreed upon in 1963.

Bhutan

The Kingdom of Bhutan borders China to the south, and the border is 292 miles long and some areas lying on the border are disputed. Bhutan and China do not have any diplomatic ties and the border between Bhutan and Tibet has never been officially demarcated. China since 1958 has included parts of Bhutan territory on their maps bringing tension between the two regions.

India

India borders China to the South with the length of the border-spanning 2,100 miles. Doklam is a region located near the border shared between Bhutan, India, and China. Both China and Bhutan claims the region. In 2017, China had begun extending a road into the region, and this led to a stalemate between the armies of China and Bhutan’s ally, India.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is a landlocked country in central Asia. The country is the biggest landlocked country in the world, and it shares a 952 miles land border with China. The shared border is one that existed before the USSR was dissolved in 1991. The present border is the one that was set between the Russian Empire and the Qin dynasty with Russia acquiring Lake Zaysan. In 1994 after Kazakhstan gained independence, it signed an agreement to surrender the contested area of Zhalanashkol to China. The border has several highways crossings and two railway lines.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is a state situated in central Asia, and it is one of the landlocked countries. The country borders China to the west with a border stretching 533 miles. The border begins from the point where Tajikistan borders both the countries to where both countries border Kazakhstan. The border was set in 1996, and the Tian Shan Mountain range forms the boundary.

Laos

Laos is a country located in the center of the Indochinese peninsula, and it borders China to the Southeast with the border-spanning 262 miles. The border was set in 1964 during the Vietnamese war, and it separates Yunnan province, China from Oudomxai, Phongslai, and Luang Namtha in Laos.

Mongolia

Mongolia is a state in East Asia, and it borders China to the North. The Mongolian-Chinese border spans 2,906 miles. The border begins where the two countries border Russia and runs 34.18 miles long. The Altai Mountains mark the western side of the border while the Eastern side which passes through the Gobi desert in Mongolia is known as the Manchurian border.

Myanmar

Myanmar is located in Southeast Asia, and it was at one time known as Burma. The state borders China to the South, and the border is 1,357 miles long. The Chinese-Myanmar border begins at the Hkakabo Razi Mountain and stretches through to where the two countries border Laos.

Nepal

Nepal borders China to the Southwest, and the border is 768 miles long. The two countries border along the Himalayas ranges and the border is a natural border as the Himalayas outlines it. The two countries signed a border agreement in 1961 after having border disputes for several years. The Himalayas separates Tibet from Nepal.

North Korea

The China-North Korea border is 880 miles long, and the two countries are separated by the Paektu Mountain, Tumen River, and Yalu River. Yalu River has 205 Islands, and in 1962 the Islands were split between the two countries based on the ethnicity of the people residing on each island. North Korea got 127 while China got 78 islands. Based on the division, some islands belonging to North Korea are located on China's side of the river. The border has allowed for several North Koreans to cross over to China.

Pakistan

The China-Pakistani border is 324 miles long. The border is made up of the Karakoram highway, Pakistan which stretches past the Gilgit-Baltistan into China to form the China National Highway 314. The road passes through the Karakoram mountain range and is considered the eighth wonder of the world.

Russia

The Chinese-Russian border is 2,615.54 miles long which makes it the sixth longest international border in the world. The border is non-continuous and is made up of two sides, the eastern and western sides. The eastern side is longer than the western, and it measures 2,607 miles long. The Western side of the border is shorter, and it is located between Xinjiang, China and the Altai Republic, Russia. The Eastern section is the only side with border crossings, and it has 26 crossings.

Tajikistan

The China-Tajikistan border is 257 miles long, and it separates Xinjiang, China from the eastern part of Tajikistan. Tajikistan was absorbed into the USSR in 1929, and its border with China was part of the USSR border with China. Tajikistan and China had a border dispute which was resolved in 1999 with Tajikistan surrendering 390 square miles of land located in the Pamir Mountains to China, and China also gave back around 11,000 square miles of land claimed by Tajikistan.

Vietnam

The China-Vietnam border is 795 miles, and it starts from the point where the two countries border with Laos up to the Gulf of Tonkin. Despite the two countries agreeing on the land borders, they have a dispute over the Paracel and Spratly Islands. The Chinese-Vietnam border was set after the Sino-French war in 1885. The border has several crossing points for both cars and pedestrians, and also two railway lines.

Country Bordering the Most Countries

China has the longest border shared with most countries than any other country in the world. Despite a few territorial disputes, China maintains a good relationship with most of its neighbors.