Thursday, November 21, 2024
Hear You Are Leaving
Even in the cold blast of winter wind,
the gulls and garbage of the seaport hear you are leaving.
Hatless statues in the rain and I shiver out of grief, and
the city convulses its enormity. You, the single plow in Mesopotamia,
is leaving us to plow with our hands as we must.
Often when friends go into the next room,
I become afraid I can never see them again.
I think of leaves carried by a swollen stream,
as great ships with broken masts, their captains stark
naked, and their sailors never will sire children.
Clinks from chinaware being fitted into boxes,
and the van’s tailpipe spewing impatient exhaust.
Write now in datebooks times we will confer again.
And the rain keeps falling; it becomes water.
Water distends into years. I hear you are leaving.
The busses of a growing city wait for no one.
Tunnels will reach completion on time.
Even in this awkward damp, the city goes on living.
Garbage is picked up. Newspapers go onto new stories.
Church bells will ring of weddings as ships recede from the harbor.
Koon Woon
1990 / 2024
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Changming Yuan --- most published China poet in the world
Changming Yuan is the most published China poet in the world. He has work out from Goldfish Press -- Kinship.
Kinship --- poetry by Changming Yuan
Kinship --- poetry by Changming Yuan
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
Sunday, November 3, 2013
A Switch
- News
Politics
US has no plans to defend Diaoyu islands with Japan
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying. (Photo/CNS)
Pentagon spokesman LT Col Jeff Pool said the United States does not have a joint operation plan with Japan to defend the disputed Diaoyu (Senkaku or Diaoyutai) islands from a potential Chinese attack, reports the state-run China News Service.
The spokeman made the comments during a press conference held in Washington DC on Nov. 1, after being asked to discuss whether the United States would support Japan against a People's Liberation Army assault over the islands.
Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported on Sep. 12 that the US reaffirmed its support for Japan over the islands during a meeting between William Burns, the US deputy secretary of state, and Natsuo Yamaguchi, a member of Japanese House of Councillors in Washington in September. At the meeting, Burns suggested that the islands are covered within the US-Japan Security Treaty, the Kyodo News said.
However, Pool dismissed the Japanese report and emphasized that it is not the policy of the US government to take any side regarding territorial disputes between China and Japan. He added that the United States instead encourages both sides to seek a peaceful solution. Echoing Pool, US state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said that the United States takes no position on the sovereignty issue over the islands.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that she received similar clarifications from the US government during the press conference held on Nov. 1. There are currently no plans for the US military to support the Japan Self Defense Force in a military confrontation over the Diaoyu islands. However, the United States is obligated to defend the islands if attacked by China as they are covered by the US-Japan Security Treaty, sources said.
The Diaoyu islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai islands, are an island chain in the East China Sea claimed by the three parties but controlled by Japan, which nationalized three of the islands in September last year, a move condemned by Beijing as an illegal appropriation of Chinese territory.
References:
Hua Chunying 華春瑩
Not Confined Anymore
- News
Politics
US can no longer contain China within First Island Chain: Duowei
The Guangzhou, a Type 052B guided-missile destroyer, passes through the Bashi Channel to participate in the Mobile 5 exercise on Oct. 23. (Photo/Xinhua)
China's Mobile 5 naval exercise in the Western Pacific between Oct. 18 and Nov. 1 has shown that the United States can no longer contain the Chinese maritime power within the First Island Chain — which extends from Alaska, South Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines, according to Duowei News, an outlet run by overseas Chinese.
Under the request of Admiral Wu Shengli, commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, the Mobile 5 naval exercise deployed vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from China's North Sea Fleet, East Sea Fleet and South Sea Fleet to compete against each other in an environment closest to real combat. The exercise was launched to prove that Chinese vessels have the ability to hold exercises beyond the First Island Chain by penetrating the Miyako waterway between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa.
State-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported that Japanese aircraft closely monitored the Chinese naval fleet during the exercise. During a press conference held on Oct. 31, Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun said the Japan Maritime Self Sefense Force sent the Ikazuchi — a Murasame-class destroyer — into the area of exercise on Oct. 25 and claimed that the intrusion was a act of provocation. Yang said that China demands a promise from the Japanese government to never interrupt Chinese naval exercises in the future.
Tensions between the two countries continue to mount after the Japanese government nationalized the disputed Diaoyu (Senkaku or Diaoyutai) islands last September. The Diaoyu islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku islands and in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai islands, are an island chain in the East China Sea claimed by the three parties but controlled by Japan.
China has begun to launch routine naval exercises near the disputed waters, while Chinese vessels penetrate the Miyako waterway at least once every two months for exercises in the Western Pacific, according to the London-based Jane's Defense Weekly.
Du Wenlong, a military analyst from Beijing told Duowei News that the First Island Chain was established by the United States and its allies during the Cold War to contain the maritime expansion of China. The PLA Navy has made several attempts to break through the line over the years, proving its ability to launch military drills beyond the makeshift barrier, Du said.
Another military expert Chen Hu said the PLA Navy has no intention of challenging the position of the US Navy as a global maritime superpower, but China has a legal right to conduct exercises like any of other nation in the open sea.
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Saturday, November 2, 2013
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THREE POEMS BY KOON WOON
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Changming Yuan is the most published China poet in the world. He has work out from Goldfish Press -- Kinship. Kinship --- poetry by Changm...
