This paper discusses cross-border cooperation at the level of urban socio-economic systems.Worldwide,cross-border urban cooperation has in several cases produced socio-economic and political coherence supported by various joint programs and efforts.However,the degree of coherence varies and seldom creates socio-economically and politically tightly integrated "TwinCities" where the state border becomes highly transparent or obscure.Focusing on Finland and China,our aim is to identify whether the selected border towns represent coherent TwinCities or a more loose type of "paired border towns".The study uses an empirical examination of three Finnish towns (Helsinki,Tomio,Imatra) and their neighboring towns in Estonia,Sweden,and Russia as a benchmark.Then,a comparative study is made regarding three Chinese eross-border cities facing Russia,Vietnam and Kazakhstan.We highlight the differences in cross-border integration from the viewpoint of shared public sector programs,cross-border enterprise relocation and networking,and integrated social sector in terms of labor market,education and shopping area.