Transport Links Among Myanmar, Thailand and China

choi

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(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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