The Afghanistan–China border is a boundary between

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, beginning at the

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

of both countries with the

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

's federally administered territory of

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...

, following the

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

along the Mustagh Range, and ending at the tripoint with

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

. This short border is in the far northeast of Afghanistan, distant from much of the country or urban areas in either country, at the end of the long, narrow

Wakhan Corridor The Wakhan Corridor (; ) is a narrow strip of territory in the Badakhshan province of Afghanistan. This corridor stretches eastward, connecting Afghanistan to Xinjiang, China. It also separates the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajiki ...

. The Chinese side of the border is in the Chalachigu Valley. The border is crossed by several mountain passes, including

Wakhjir Pass The Wakhjir Pass, Ludwig W. Adamec. Historical and political gazetteer of Afghanistan Vol. 1. Badakhshan Province and northeastern Afghanistan. Graz : Akad. Druck- und Verl.-Anst., 1972.p. 185. also spelled Vakhjir Pass, is a mountain pass on th ...

in the south and Tegermansu Pass in the north. Both sides of the border are

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s: Wakhan National Park in

Wakhan District Wakhan District is one of the 28 districts of Badakhshan province in eastern Afghanistan. Located between Tajikistan in the north and Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral District in the south, the district separates Tajikistan and Pakistan wh ...

Badakhshan Province Badakhshan Province (Dari: بدخشان) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan in the north and the Pakistani regions of Lower and Upper C ...

on the Afghan side and Taxkorgan Nature Reserve in

Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County (often shortened to Tashkurgan County and officially spelled Taxkorgan) is an autonomous county of Kashgar Prefecture, in western Xinjiang, China. The county seat is Tashkurgan. The county is the only Tajik ...

Kashgar Prefecture Kashgar, also known as Kashi, is a prefecture located in southwestern Xinjiang, China, located in the Tarim Basin region (roughly the southern half of Xinjiang). It has an area of and 4,496,377 inhabitants at the 2020 census with a population d ...

Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC: previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads ...

on the Chinese side. The border marks the greatest terrestrial

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, Commerce, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between Country, countries and their Administrative division, subdivisions instead of ...

difference on Earth, with a 3.5 hour difference between Afghanistan's UTC+04:30 and China's UTC+08:00.

History

The border area was a thoroughfare on the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

. It is believed that the famous Chinese Buddhist pilgrim

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

traveled this pass on his return trip back to China around 649 AD. The border was established between Afghanistan and China in an agreement between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

empires in 1895 as part of

the Great Game The Great Game was a rivalry between the 19th-century British and Russian empires over influence in Central Asia, primarily in Afghanistan, Persia, and Tibet. The two colonial empires used military interventions and diplomatic negotiations t ...

, although the Chinese and Afghans did not finally agree on the border until 1963. The

Kingdom of Afghanistan The Kingdom of Afghanistan (; ) was a monarchy in Southern Central Asia that was established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Afghanistan. It was proclaimed by its first king, Amanullah Khan, seven years after he acceded to the ...

and the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

demarcated their border in 1963. It is believed that in more recent times, the main pass, Wakhjir Pass, is sometimes used as a low intensity drug smuggling route, to transport opium made in Afghanistan to China. In the 2000s, Afghanistan asked China on several occasions to open the border in the Wakhan Corridor for economic reasons or as an alternative supply route for fighting the

Taliban insurgency {{Infobox military conflict , partof = the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), the Afghan conflict, and the War on terror , image = 2021 Taliban Offensive.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Map of th ...

. However, China resisted, largely due to unrest in its far western province of

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

, which borders the corridor. , it was reported that the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

had asked China to open the corridor. There have been proposals and plans by Kashgar regional government to open Tegermansu Pass as a

port of entry In general, a port of entry (POE) is a place where one may lawfully enter a country. It typically has border control, border security staff and facilities to check passports and visas and to inspect luggage to assure that contraband is not impo ...

for economic purposes since the 1990s. However, this has yet to happen.

Geography

Article 1 of the Boundary Treaty of 1963 describes the Afghanistan–China border, starting from the southern end: The border's northern terminus is found at the Afghanistan-China-Tajikistan tripoint on Povalo-Shveikovskogo Peak ( zh, s=波万洛什维科夫斯基峰, p=Bōwànluò Shíwéikēfūsījī Fēng) / Kokrash Kol Peak (Kekelaqukaole Peak; zh, c=, p=Kèkèlāqùkǎolè Fēng), the easternmost point of Afghanistan.

Border crossings

Historically, the main crossing between the two sides was

. Wakhjir Pass has been in use for at least a millennium since the

. In addition to Wakhjir Pass, there is also Tegermansu Pass which is located on the far eastern end from

Little Pamir The Little Pamir ( Wakhi: ''Wuch Pamir''; Kyrgyz: ''Kichik Pamir''; ) is a broad U-shaped grassy valley or '' pamir'' in the eastern part of the Wakhan in north-eastern Afghanistan. The valley is 100 km long and 10 km wide, and is bou ...

. The passes are closed as Chalachigu Valley, the valley on the Chinese side, is closed to visitors; however, local residents and herders from the area are permitted to access.

Historical maps and gallery

Historical English-language maps of the Afghanistan–China border, mid to late 20th century: File:Plate 23. Sect. II- Chinese Turkistan, Kashmir & Jamu of maps of Constables 1893 hand atlas.jpg, Map of the region (1893) File:STANFORD(1917) p61 PLATE19. SINKIANG (14597194848).jpg, Map including the Afghanistan–China border (1917) File:Txu-oclc-6654394-nj-43-5th-ed.jpg, From the

International Map of the World The International Map of the World (IMW; also the Millionth Map of the World, after its scale of 1:1000000) was a project to create a complete map of the world according to internationally agreed standards. It was first proposed by the German g ...

(

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions ...

, 1966) File:NJ-43-10 Tokhtamysh, USSR; China; Afghanistan; Pakistan.jpg, Map including Afghanistan–China border ( ACIC, 1969) File:Operational Navigation Chart G-7, 6th edition.jpg, Border region ( DMA, 1980) File:Txu-pclmaps-oclc-22834566 g-7a.jpg, Border region ( DMA, 1984) File:Hindu Kush satellite image.jpg, Satellite image of the region with the Afghanistan–China border marked File:Vakhan (Wakhan) Corridor.jpg,

including Afghanistan–China border

History

Geography

Border crossings

Historical maps and gallery

See also

Notes

References

Further reading