The Dien Bien Phu (DBP) fault zone is one of the most seismically active fault systems in the Indochina, extending over a distance of some 150 km from the border between Yunnan, China and Vietnam through the NW Vietnam into Laos. The faults are of strike-slip and oblique-slip character, dipping 60–70°to the west in the northern part and 70–80°(even to 90°) in the southern part of the fault zone. Three basins with Neogene (from Pliocene to Holocene) are interpreted along the fault zone, e.g. Chan Nua, Lai Chau, and Dien Bien Phu basins. These basins show different characteristics of kinematics in different segments along the fault zone. All of the geological, geomorphological and ETM image analysis reveals two stages of tectonic development of the fault zone: an early stage characterized by dextral and reverse-dextral strike-slip faulting and a late stage characterized by sinistral strike-slip faulting. In the remote sensing image, the landforms and drainage features of the two sides of the fault zone are obviously different——more complicated on the western side than on the eastern side. Such differences may also imply the relative activity of the two blocks on both sides of the fault zone. Based on the ETM image analysis and field survey in Jinping, Southern Yunnan, China and Laichau, Vietnam, we found that in the north of DBP fault zone it is connected with the Sanjiahe fault zone which is similar to the DBP fault zone in structural characteristics and evolution, and it even approaches the Ailao Shan-Red River shear zone. Geometrically and kinematically, the DBP fault and the recently dextral Red River fault zone form a conjugate shear due to a stress field of EW extension and NS compression.