Why US matters for peaceful India-China ties

By Aman Maheshwari

India is today in a diplomatic sweet spot with both US and Russia committed to improve ties. It is important for China also to not let this border tensions become a playground for Indian politicians.

India is set to host G20 Summit this year where world leaders are expected to pay a visit. India is already going a complete turnaround for the mega multilateral summit. Meanwhile, US has supported India for a fruitful Summit. Since May 2020, India and China are locked in a tense border situation.

China tried to unilaterally change the status-quo which was India countered militarily by mirror deployment of troops.Both sides suffered fatalities in brutal Galwan Valley clash.

China views the world through a prism of US-China ties. As the trend is in favour of India-US warm ties, US-China ties are going through a tough phase.

China is wary of growing India-US ties and implies that it will eventually be directed against it. China remains profoundly suspicious of India’s strategic ambitions and intensions. Indian Foreign Minister has signalled to Chinese against this approach.

Chinese Foreign Minister in a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart suggested to keep aside border tensions from overall bilateral ties whereas India maintained that peace and tranquillity at the border will define India-China ties.

India is today in a diplomatic sweet spot with both US and

Russia committed to improve ties. It is important for China also to not let this border tensions become a playground for Indian politicians.

US President Joe Biden has time and again mentioned India as key US strategic partner in the world and vital to global peace.QUAD, a grouping of four nations — India, US, Japan and Australia has also regularly met at Foreign Minister and Leader’s levelto discuss stability of Indo-Pacific. US must convey to China that the rising India-US is not directed against any third country and it’s in China’s interest not to undermine India-China ties. Only a peaceful IndiaChina ties can truly bring a Asian century. Normalization of India-China relations is in the interest of US and the world.

Aman Maheshwari is an Int’l Affairs Analyst.

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, has said that the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano and Kaduna will experience below average rainfall this year.

Ahmed made this known yesterday during the presentation of the 2023 climate-related disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies, in Abuja.

He said forecast from the Seasonal Climate Prediction, SCP, showed that a total of 66 Local Government Areas (LGAs) are at high flood risk in the months of April to June; while 148 LGAs in July to September and 100 LGAs in the months of October and November.

He said, “Sequel to the public presentation of the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) by NiMet on 24th January, 2023 and Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) by NIHSA on 17th February, 2023, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) convened a technical meeting to review the two forecast documents.

“The technical meeting was attended by experts from relevant stakeholder organizations that thoroughly appraised the risk implications of the forecasts and developed an early warning document based on thematic sectors covered by both NIHSA and NIMET.

“This document is expected to aid responsible organizations carry out preparedness and mitigation actions to safeguard lives, livelihoods, properties and the environment against hydro meteorological hazards in Nigeria during the 2023 rainy season and beyond.

“Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, permit me to highlight excerpts from the SCP which predicted rainfall onset to be