diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/validate-notification-arn.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/validate-notification-arn.ts
index 4d1f458a8c3db..647f8e1afdc94 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/validate-notification-arn.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/lib/util/validate-notification-arn.ts
@@ -2,5 +2,5 @@
  * Validate SNS topic arn
  */
 export function validateSnsTopicArn(arn: string): boolean {
-  return /^arn:aws:sns:[a-z0-9\-]+:[0-9]+:[a-z0-9\-\_]+$/i.test(arn);
+  return /^arn:(?:aws|aws-cn):sns:[a-z0-9\-]+:[0-9]+:[a-z0-9\-\_]+$/i.test(arn);
 }
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/validate-notification-arn.test.ts b/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/validate-notification-arn.test.ts
index d418546eda923..0665828886e2b 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/validate-notification-arn.test.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk/test/util/validate-notification-arn.test.ts
@@ -26,5 +26,10 @@ describe('validate sns arns', () => {
     const arn = 'arn:aws:sns:eu-west-1:123456789876:foo-bar_baz';
     expect(validateSnsTopicArn(arn)).toEqual(true);
   });
+
+  test('AWS China partition', () => {
+    const arn = 'arn:aws-cn:sns:cn-northwest-1:123456789876:foo-bar';
+    expect(validateSnsTopicArn(arn)).toEqual(true);
+  });
 });