Nearly a tie: China and United States differ by barely 1% in area: about 9,596,960 km² against 9,525,067 km².
China sits in Asia, United States in North America. On the old Mercator map the latitude gap distorted how large each felt beside the other; at true size the answer is simply 1.01×.
The old map muddied it further: Mercator inflates China about 1.6× and United States about 2×, so on a Mercator-style map this pair appears 1.3× apart instead of the true 1.01×.
United States fits 1× into China.
China vs United States: key figures
| Measure | China | United States |
|---|
| True area | 9,596,960 km² · #3 | 9,525,067 km² · #4 |
| Mercator inflation | 1.6× | 2× |
| Apparent on Mercator | 14,925,192 km² | 18,881,540 km² |