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Britannica Sources used in this answer

Why does the Yangtze River flow close to the Mekong and Salween rivers in its upper course?

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Locator map highlighting the course of the Yangtze River across China, with surrounding countries in East and Central Asia labeled, including India, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, and the Koreas. The Yangtze River is marked in blue and labeled in orange, showing its path from western to eastern China. An inset globe in the upper left shows the region's location within Asia.
Yangtze River

In its upper course, the Yangtze River flows in close proximity to the Mekong and Salween rivers because it descends from the Plateau of Tibet through a series of high, parallel mountain chains.12

As these great mountain ranges branch out southeastward from the Tibetan border in a fanlike fashion, they create deep, narrow, V-shaped valleys. The Yangtze, Mekong, and Salween are forced to flow through these steep, rocky corridors, which are often separated by only 15 to 30 miles (25 to 50 km). The rivers maintain this mutual proximity for more than 250 miles (400 km) before the mountain ranges diverge north of latitude 26Β° N, allowing the rivers to eventually separate and follow their own distinct paths.12