The Republic of China is a country of East Asia . It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world . Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it covers approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of Earth . Among the major countries of the world, China is surpassed in area by only Russia and Canada , and it is almost as large as the whole of Europe. China has the largest number of neighbours (14) sharing its 22,000km land borders namely: North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.