ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the historical background of the Tumen River and Yalu River. It covers the Chinese perspective on both the central and local levels in an attempt to explain why China and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have facilitated and taken actions in joint development of the Yalu River and Tumen River. The chapter analyses the motives behind these efforts in detail, while pointing out the internal relationship between geopolitics and the safeguarding of China's rights and interests in river development. It focuses on the analysis of the cooperation contexts of both countries on the Tumen River and Yalu River, and then predicts the cooperation tendency of China and DPRK. China-DPRK cooperation has a long history in hydropower development. On 17 April 1955, Li Fuchun, influential representative of the Chinese government, and his DPRK counterpart Park Chang-ok signed the Agreement on Yalu River Hydropower Station.
