Two earthquakes shook the border between China and Myanmar on Thursday in quick succession, the US Geological Survey said, a day after a tremor hit the same area.

The quakes, measuring 5.0 and 5.9, struck less than four minutes apart more than 200 kilometres from the city of Dali, a popular tourist spot in southwest China.

They happened 61 and 36 kilometres respectively from Myitkyina in northern Myanmar early on Thursday evening, according to a statement on the USGS website.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the region, which is mountainous and sparsely populated, China's official Xinhua news agency said.

The epicentre of the quakes, which both hit at a depth of 10 kilometres, were less than 30 kilometres away from a 5.3-magnitude tremor in the area on Wednesday morning.

A massive quake hit southwest China's Sichuan province bordering on Yunnan in May, leaving nearly 70,000 dead, with about 18,000 people still missing.