The China–Myanmar border is the international border between the territory of 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 most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

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 C. Wells, Joh ...

(formerly ''Burma''). The border is 2,129 km (1,323 mi) in length and run 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

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the north to the tripoint with

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

in the south.

Description

The border begins in the north at the tripoint with

near just north of the

Diphu Pass Diphu Pass is a mountain pass around the area of the disputed tri-point borders of India, China, and Myanmar. Diphu Pass is also a strategic approach to eastern Arunachal Pradesh in India. It lies on the McMahon Line. It is located in Anjaw distr ...

and then runs briefly to north-east, across the Nanmi Pass and

Hkakabo Razi Hkakabo Razi ( my, ခါကာဘိုရာဇီ, ; or ) is believed to be Myanmar's highest mountain. The -tall mountain is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia as well. It is located in the northern Myanmar state of Kachin in an outlyin ...

(5881 m), the highest mountain in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. It then turns to the south-east, running broadly southwards and then south-westwards across the Hengduan and

Gaoligong Mountains The Gaoligong Mountains () are a mountainous sub-range of the southern Hengduan Mountain Range, located in the western Yunnan highlands and straddling the border of southwestern China and northern Myanmar (Burma). Geography The Gaoligong Mount ...

via a series of irregular lines. In the vicinity of

Ruili Ruili (; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ; shn, မိူင်းမၢဝ်း; th, เมืองมาว; my, ရွှေလီ) is a county-level city of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. It ...

the border briefly utilises parts of the

Taping Athletic taping is the process of applying tape directly to the skin or over pre-wrap in order to maintain a stable position of bones and muscles during athletic activity. It is a procedure that uses athletic tape (pressure-sensitive tape similar ...

and Nanwan rivers, before turning south-east to join the

Shweli River Shweli River ( my, ရွှေလီမြစ်; zh, 瑞丽江) is a river in China and Myanmar (Burma). Also known as Nam Mao ( shn, ၼမ်ႉမၢဝ်း; ) in Shan or Dai, and Ruili River or Longchuan River (龙川江) in Chinese, it ...

, which it utilises for a period towards the north-east. The border then continues through mountainous terrain in a broadly (though often convoluted) south-eastwards direction, occasionally utilising rivers (such as the Nanding and

Nam Hka Hka River or Nam Hka is a river of Shan State, Burma. It is a left hand tributary of the Salween. Historically this river separated the Wa States and the northern Shan state of Manglon from Kengtung State. Course The Nam Hka forms the boundary b ...

) for short stretches, before turning to the east in the southern stretch up to 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 annuall ...

, and then utilising that river down to the tripoint with

History

The boundary area is inhabited by non-Han and non-Burmese peoples, and has been traditionally kept as a buffer region between the various Chinese and Burmese empires. During the 19th century the British, based in India, began occupying Myanmar (then referred to as Burma), gradually incorporating it into

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Their advance close to lands traditionally claimed by China pushed the two sides into negotiating a boundary treaty in 1894, which covered the southern half of the boundary as far north as the vicinity of

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; (Eng; ''mitchinar'') Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ) is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina is on the west bank of the ...

, exclusive of the

Wa States The Wa States was the name formerly given to the Wa Land, the natural and historical region inhabited mainly by the Wa people, an ethnic group speaking an Austroasiatic language. The region is located to the northeast of the Shan States of B ...

. Sections of this border were demarcated and marked on the ground from 1897 to 1900. In 1941 a border running through the Wa States area was agreed upon following on-the-ground surveys conducted in the 1930s, though no agreement on the northern stretch was reached, with China claiming much of what is now northern Myanmar. Meanwhile, in 1937 Burma was separated from India and became a separate colony, gaining full independence in 1948. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the

Burma Road The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino-J ...

was constructed across the border as an Allied supply line for the Chinese forces

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. In 1941, following Japan's

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

of Burma, parts of Burma were ceded to Siam as the

Saharat Thai Doem Saharat Thai Doem ( th, สหรัฐไทยเดิม, lit=Unified Former Thai Territories) was an administrative division of Thailand. It encompassed parts of the Shan States of British Burma annexed by the Thai government after the Jap ...

territory, thereby giving China a common border with Thailand, however these areas were returned to Burma in 1946 following Japan's defeat.

1960 border settlement

Discussions between Burma and China (now under Communist rule) over the border began in 1954, with China keen to control the area more effectively as it was being used as a base by

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

troops. On 28 January 1960 a treaty was signed which delimited most of the border, which was later completed with a full delimitation treaty signed on 1 October 1960, with both sides ceding small areas along the border. The two sides then demarcated the border on the ground in the following year. Since then relations between the two states have remained largely cordial, though the border region has at times been volatile owing to the ongoing insurgencies in Myanmar's Kachin and Shan states. In recent years several towns along the border, such as

Mong La Mong La or Mongla ( my, မိုင်းလား ; zh, c=勐拉, p=Měnglā), also known as Little Mong La ( zh, c=小勐拉, p=Xiǎo Měnglā, links=no) to distinguish it from neighbouring Mengla County in China, is the administrative seat of ...

and

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, have become centres of gambling, prostitution and drug smuggling.Asia Times Online
Virtual gambling in Myanmar's drug country
Michael Black and Roland Fields, Aug 26, 2006

Border crossings

Shan State: *Guanlei River Port (Mengla County,

Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna, Sibsongbanna or Sipsong Panna ( Tham: , New Tai Lü script: ; ; th, สิบสองปันนา; lo, ສິບສອງພັນນາ; shn, သိပ်းသွင်ပၼ်းၼႃး; my, စစ်ဆောင်� ...

) *Menglong crossing (Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna) –

NDAA NDAA may refer to: *National Defense Authorization Act The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is the name for each of a series of United States federal laws specifying the annual budget and expenditures of the U.S. Department of Defense ...

control on Burmese side *

(NDAA control) – Daluo (Menghai County, Xishuangbanna) *Mangxin crossing (Menglian County, Pu'er Prefecture) – NDAA control on Burmese side *

Pangkham Pangkham (; zh, c=邦康, p=Bāngkāng; Wa: ''Bāng kam''), known before 1999 as Pangsang (), is a border town in Myanmar's far eastern Shan State. It is situated at a bend on the Hka River near the border with Yunnan Province, China, opposite ...

(controlled by

Wa State Wa State, my, ဝပြည်နယ် is an autonomous self-governing polity in Myanmar (Burma). It is ''de facto'' independent from the rest of the country and has its own political system, administrative divisions and army.29 December 2 ...

) – Meng'a (

Menglian Menglian Dai, Lahu and Va Autonomous County () is an autonomous county in the southwest of Yunnan, Yunnan Province, China, bordering Ximeng County to the north, Lancang County to the north, northeast, and east, and Burma's Shan State to the south ...

County, Pu'er) *Natuoba (Wa State) – Mengka crossing (Ximeng County, Pu'er) *Shawba (Wa State) – Mengdong (Cangyuan) crossing (Cangyuan County, Lincang Prefecture) *

Namtit Namtit Subtownship (; Wa: nām dēeg) is a subtownship of the Wa Self-Administered Division of Shan State, formerly and conterminously part of Hopang District. Its principal town is Namtit. It is ''de facto'' administrated as the Nam Deeg Specia ...

(Wa State) – Mangka (Cangyuan, Lincang) * Chinshwehaw – Qingshuihe (

Gengma Gengma Dai and Va Autonomous County () is located in Lincang City, in the west of Yunnan province, China. History In 1988, the county was affected by two strong earthquakes. It killed a total of 939 people and caused major destruction. Administ ...

County, Lincang) *

Laukkai Laukkai (also known as Laukkaing or Laogai or Laokai; my, လောက်ကိုင်မြို့; ) is the capital of Kokang (also known as Special Region 1) in the northern part of Shan State, Myanmar. It is situated on the Salween River ...

(

Kokang Kokang ( my, ကိုးကန့်; ) is a region in Myanmar (Burma). It is located in the northern part of Shan State, with the Salween River to its west, and sharing a border with China's Yunnan Province to the east. Its total land area i ...

Region) – Nansan (Zhenkang County, Lincang) *

Mong Ko Mong Ko ( my, မုန်းကိုးမြို့; zh, c=勐古, p=Měng gǔ), sometimes spelled Mongko or Monekoe and also known as Man Kan, Man Guo and Panglong, is a town in Mu Se Township, Mu Se District, northern Shan State. Like man ...

– Manghai (Mangshi County, Dehong Prefecture) * Pang Hseng – Wanding (Ruili County, Dehong) *

–

(Dehong) Kachin State: * Lweje – Zhangfeng (Longchuan County, Dehong) *Mai Ja Yang crossing (controlled by

KIO KIO (KDE Input/Output) is a system library incorporated into KDE Frameworks 5 and KDE Software Compilation 4. It provides access to files, web sites and other resources through a single consistent API. Applications, such as Konqueror and Dolp ...

) *

Laiza Laiza ( my, လိုင်ဇာ ''Laingza'') is a remote mountainous town in the Kachin State, Myanmar. It lies on the border with China, the other side is . Laiza is the capital of the Kachin Independence Organisation since 2005. History L ...

(controlled by KIO) – Nabang (Yingjiang County, Dehong) *Kan Paik Ti ( NDA-K border force joint control) – Houqiao (Tengchong County, Baoshan Prefecture) *Pang War (NDA-K border force joint control) – Diantan (Tengchong, Baoshan) *Phimaw – Pianma (Lushui County, Nujiang Prefecture)

Historical maps

Historical maps of the border from north to south 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 th ...

, mid-late 20th century: File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nh-47-1st-ed.jpg, File:Txu-oclc-6654394-ng-47-6th-ed.jpg, File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nf-47-7th-ed.jpg, File:Operational Navigation Chart H-10, 7th edition.jpg, File:Operational Navigation Chart J-10, 10th edition.jpg,

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:China-Myanmar border

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

Borders of China Borders of Myanmar International borders