It is part of the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture and borders the northern Vietnamese city of Lào Cai.

The zone implemented several policies to serve its clients in China from various industries and sectors including investment, trade, finance, taxation, immigration, etc.

There is a highway linking Xinjie, a town in Hekou County, with Lào Cai Province in northern Vietnam.

It opened in February 2008 and marked the completion of the first highway linking Yunnan with a neighboring country from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The narrow-gauge Yunnan–Vietnam Railway, connecting Kunming with the port of Haiphong, opened by the French in 1910, crosses the China-Vietnam border in Hekou.