Zhihua Shen and Yafeng Xia 5 occurred.It was thus necessary,said the committee,to use the main stream as the boundary and let residents on both sides decide whether they would like to remain where they were or move to their motherland (Yanbian Chaoxianzu Archive 1985). New China's Policies on the Resolution of Border Issues Setting Principles for Dealing with Old Treaties After 1949 the PRC government adopted a prudent policy on bor- der issues.In the early 1950s the central government adopted "dilatory tactics"in handling border issues with countries on China's periphery,mainly due to two factors:(1)the Chinese gov- ernment had little knowledge of its borders with its neighbors,and (2)Beijing was heavily involved in the Korean War.The PRC "neither acknowledged nor denied the border treaties or agree- ments"signed between former Chinese governments and foreign governments (Liao 2004).Concerning unresolved border issues, Beijing adopted a policy of maintaining the status quo.But it also instructed relevant government departments to study these issues and actively prepare for their resolution (Liao 2004). In April 1950 North Korea proposed to the northeast people's government of the PRC negotiation of navigation along the Yalu, and it delivered a DPRK-drawn map.The PRC Ministry of For- eign Affairs(MFA)responded by saying,"The DPRK proposal to establish navigation markers in the Yalu River involves China's territorial sovereignty.This issue has to be negotiated between the MFA of China's Central Government and the DPRK.It should not be handled locally"(CFMA No.106-00021-03,4).The MFA asked the foreign affairs bureau of the northeast people's govern- ment to suspend negotiations and deliver all documents to Bei- jing.The MFA would establish new principles after carefully reviewing the issue.We have yet to learn the outcome of the case, which demonstrated the PRC central government's cautious approach toward border disputes as well as the tightening of cen- tral-local relations in the years immediately following the CCP's victory