c**i 发帖数: 6973 | 1 (1) Construction of China-Myanmar railway could start in December. DPA, Aug
29, 2011.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/business/news
/article_1659676.php/Construction-of-China-Myanmar-railway-could-start-in-
December
Quote:
"'The whole project will take five years and cost about 20 billion US
dollars. China will bear the cost and the agreement will be based on BOT (
build, operate and transfer) for 50 years,' [Myanmar Railway Transportation
Minister] Aung Min told the German Press Agency dpa.
"China also has made plans to build a pipeline along the same route as the
railway to carry natural gas to Yunnan, southern China.
Note:
(a) Naypyitaw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naypyidaw
(renamed since March 2006 from countryside chosen to be capital of Myanmar--
succeeding Yangon; Much of this planned city is still under construction,
which is set to be completed by around 2012; section 1 Etymology)
(b) Muse, Burma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse,_Burma
(the principal town of Muse Township also spell as Mu Se Township in
northern Shan State, Myanmar)
(c) Kyaukphyu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyaukphyu
(a major town in Rakhine State, in western Myanmar; a superb natural harbor;
section 1 Etymology)
(d) The report misspelled: Not Ruli, but Ruili City, Dehong Dai and Jingpo
Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province 云南省 德宏傣族景颇族自治州 瑞丽市
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/Dehong_Dai_and_Jingpo_Autonomous_Prefecture
(section 2 Administration)
(e) The report stated, "'The railroad will pass though parts of the Shan
state that are still contested,' said David Mathieson, Myanmar expert for
Human Rights Watch."
Shan State
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shan_State
(The state gets its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups
that inhabit the area; largely rural)
Quote: "Shan State, with many ethnic groups, is home to several armed ethnic
armies. While the military government has signed ceasefire agreements with
most groups, vast areas of the state, especially those east of Thanlwin
river, remain outside the central government's control,
(f) Widespread in China is 中缅超级工程要开工了,中国不必再取道马六甲海峡了,
whcih is actually the partial translation of the DPA report (taking out the
sensitive parts). China's readers simply do not understand, when reading
the Chinese translation, that by BOT, China pays $20 billion conttruction
cost and will turn it over to Myanmar after 50 years. The Again, China has
tooo much foreign reserve.
(g) The project will NOT solve China's Malacca dilemma,
* because the project ends at Kyaukphyu on the Bengal Bay, right into the
arms of India, and
* because an US Air Force official quipped years ago that all it would take
to disrupt China's Myanmar link is a missile or bombs.
(2) Myanmar and its neighbours | The Eye of the Buddha; How Myanmar is
moving ever closer into China’s orbit. Economist, Aug 20, 2011
http://www.economist.com/node/21526298
(book review on Thant Myint-U, Where China Meets India: Burma and the new
crossroads of Asia. various publishers, 2011)
Quote:
"The Victorians even fantasised about a raised railway from Calcutta (now
Kolkata), soaring above the jungle. The dream is at last coming true, as the
solution to China’s “Malacca dilemma”—its strategic worry about
dependence on imported energy coming through the chokepoint of the Malacca
Straits. A new port, oil and gas pipelines, and roads are already under
construction, giving China for the first time direct access to the Bay of
Bengal, and a new route for as much as 20% of its oil imports. Dams are
springing up on Myanmar’s rivers, to generate hydropower to keep the lights
burning in Yunnan. So China’s and Myanmar’s rulers are becoming ever more
dependent on each other.
"The generals in mufti now running Myanmar are fiercely independent. They do
not want to be China’s puppets. Indeed, the older ones spent their
formative years fighting Chinese-backed communists. Yet the West, with its
fastidious refusal to have any truck with them, seems to leave them little
option but to cleave to China.
Note:
(a) British Raj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Raj
(British Raj (lit. "reign" in Hindustani) was the British rule in the Indian
subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The eastern part of the Indian Empire
became the separate colony of Burma in 1937, and this gained independence in
1948)
(b) United Wa State Army
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Wa_State_Army
(UWSA; 佤联军; an estimated 30,000 Wa soldiers led by Bao Youxiang (鲍有祥);
The working language of UWSA is Chinese; section 2 Territory)
(c) Yangon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoon
(section 1 Etymology: Yangon is a combination of the two words yan and koun,
which mean "enemies" and "run out of" respectively. It is also translated
as "End of Strife". "Rangoon" most likely comes from the British imitation
of the pronunciation of "Yangon" in the Rakhine dialect (Arakanese) of
Burmese)
(d) Mandalay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalay
(the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma from 1857-1885;
Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on
the wishes of the ruler of the day in 1857)
(e) The "mufti" in "generals in mufti" (n; Arabic):
"civilian clothes, in contrast with military or other uniforms, or as worn
by a person who usually wears a uniform"
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mufti
(f) truck (vt & noun; Middle English trukken, from Anglo-French *truker, *
troker, from Vulgar Latin *troccare, probably of imitative origin; First
Known Use: 13th century): "BARTER"
(g) cleave (vi; Middle English clevien, from Old English clifian; akin to
Old High German kleben to stick;
First Known Use: before 12th century):
"to adhere firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly"
Both (f) and (g) are from www.m-w.com.
(3) Jutarat Skulpichetrat, Thailand Revises High-Speed Rail Plan, Laos Link
Shelved. Reuters, Aug 23, 2011
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/23
/uk-thailand-rail-idUSLNE77M04B20110823
(Thailand's new government unveiled a revised plan for the country's high-
speed train network on Tuesday, prioritising domestic rail expansion over an
ambitious regional connectivity plan being spearheaded by China") |
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