The China–Laos border is the international boundary between China and Laos, which runs for 505 km from the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

with

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

in the west to the tripoint with

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

in the east.

Description

The border starts in the west at the tripoint with Myanmar on the

Mekong river The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

, proceeding southwards via a series of irregular overland lines. The border then turns sharply eastward and continues overland, before turning sharply northward, continuing in that direction for some distance, before again turning eastward and terminating at the Vietnamese tripoint at the

Shiceng Dashan Shiceng Dashan ()( vi, Khoan La San) is a mountain at the junction of the borders of Laos, China and Vietnam. According to the news report, the three countries have a border dispute in which a pending agreement is on the table. There is a mono ...

peak. The border on both sides is predominantly inhabited by minority people groups. Topographically it is mountainous and forested, with some limited agriculture. On the Laotian side the border lie the provinces of

Luang Namtha Luang Namtha (''Luang Nam Tha'') ( Lao: ມ. ຫລວງນໍ້າທາ) is a district as well as the capital of Luang Namtha Province in northern Laos. The city lies on the Tha River (''Nam Tha''). Luang Namtha is a popular tourist des ...

Oudomxai Oudomxay (alternates: Oudômxai or Moung Xai; lo, ອຸດົມໄຊ) is a province of Laos, located in the northwest of the country. Its capital is Muang Xai. It covers an area of . It borders China to the north, Phongsali province to t ...

and

Phongsali Phongsali or Phongsaly ( lo, ຜົ້ງສາລີ) is the capital of Phongsaly Province, Laos. It is the northernmost provincial capital in Laos, opposite Attapeu in the south. The town has about 8,000 inhabitants. It lies at approximately 1, ...

, whilst the entirety of China's side belongs to the province of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

History

The border area was historically remote from the centres of both Chinese and Lao power. From the 1860s

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

began establishing a presence in the region, initially in modern

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and Vietnam, and the colony of

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

was created in 1887. France and China had already determined the border between

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, inclu ...

(northern Vietnam) and China in 1887 following the

Sino-French War The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...

. Laos was then added to the colony in 1893 following the

Franco-Siamese War The Franco-Siamese War of 1893, known in Thailand as Incident of R.S. 112 ( th, วิกฤตการณ์ ร.ศ. 112, , ) was a conflict between the French Third Republic and the Kingdom of Siam. Auguste Pavie, French vice consul in Luan ...

, and a border agreement delimiting the China-Laos boundary at its current position was signed on 20 June 1895. It was later demarcated on the ground with a series of pillars. Laos obtained a partial independence from

in 1949, around the time when

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...

established the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

after defeating

Chiang Kai Shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

's nationalist government in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on main ...

. Consequently, China's adaptation of

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory ...

principles in the form of

Maoism Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

influenced Laotian politics, fuelling demands for total independence from France, which was granted in 1953. The boundary then became one between two sovereign independent states. The border was re-surveyed and demarcated in April 1992.

Border crossings

There are two border crossings. The main one is located at Mohan-

Boten Boten is a town in Laos in Luang Namtha Province. Boten is on the China–Laos border. It is opposite the Chinese town Mohan. While Boten is part of Laos, most of its inhabitants speak Mandarin Chinese as their native language. The main currenc ...

. A second crossing is at Lantouy further northeast (only for Chinese and Laotian citizens). There is no railway crossing the border, but the Vientiane–Boten railway and the

Yuxi–Mohan railway The Yuxi–Mohan railway or Yumo railway (), is a Chinese section of the China–Laos railway in Yunnan Province of southwest China. The line runs from Yuxi in central Yunnan to Mohan, a town in Mengla County on the border with Laos in the Xish ...

connect between

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headqua ...

with

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

opened on 3 December 2021.

Historical maps

Historical maps of the border from west to east in the

International Map of the World The International Map of the World or IMW (also called the Millionth Map of the World, after its scale of 1:1 000 000) was a project to create a complete map of the world according to internationally agreed standards. It was first proposed by the ...

, Operational Navigation Chart and Tactical Pilotage Chart, late 20th century: File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nf-47-7th-ed.jpg, File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nf-48-7th-ed.jpg, File:Operational Navigation Chart J-10, 10th edition.jpg, File:Operational Navigation Chart J-11, 12th edition.jpg, File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 j-10b.jpg,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:China-Laos border Borders of China Borders of Laos International borders

Description

History

Border crossings

Historical maps

See also

References