Those friends backing HAL Tejas forget a major hitch; HAL simply won't expedite the production of Mk.2. The government will have to declare war on somebody in order to get these slowpokes to expedite the development and testing of Mk.2.
DPSUs know that IAF will buy from abroad if they delay and therefore there is little incentive for someone assured their salary for not winning business.
If U.S. cannot share critical technology, how they expect India to be a defence partner? Let U.S. fight it's own wars with China alone without support from India.
U.S. deserves partners like Pakistan who demand $$ even for entering the airspace. U.S. can never be a partner with India in future.
We are at loggerheads with China for Bhutan issue. Else we have no enmity with China. Once China accept Doval formula, there can be peace on border.
However the biggest loser will be U.S. No support to U.S. in Afghanistan or SCS or north Korea issue.
China and USA have a deal called the G-2.
It is not much discussed but is often trailed off as a distant proposal made by one party to the other. The truth is, US and China are only paper adversaries. Their showdown is only for public consumption whereas behind the scenes, they are eating away the share of global pie.
That's what the relationship of a 'frenemy' is.
There are a lot of examples that make them look otherwise:
1- Why did Trump sanction Russia? For interfering in elections? Bullshit! Russia's reliance on China is high since the US sanctioned them after Ukraine conflict. Americans know that fighting Russia head on will mean suicide for its position and destruction for the entire planet.
Why not hand it over to a supposed ally who eats up their unsuspecting partner piece by piece? China is that 'ally' of Russia who will penetrate deep into Russian economy, take control of its supply chains, manufacturing ecosystem, energy corridors and pipeline supplies, and then leave it heavily dependent.
That's one reason why Russia was keen to get us on the SCO panel; to dilute the Chinese influence.
Russia is as allied to China as we are to the Arab states, in reality.
Also, Russia remains the only 'thorn' on the side of both Chinese and Americans.
With a mellowed out Japan, a dependent ROK, a weak ASEAN union, Asia is China's for the taking.
2- If anything, US has been steadily backing off East Asia. As much as we would like to think that they want to do something about the global scenario, they are going to do nothing. Not because China has them by the balls but angering Chinese won't get them anywhere commercially.
The latest casualty of this piece-by-piece retraction has been Vietnam, whose supposed alliance with US got them nothing when Trump looked the other side and they had to give in to the Chinese demands. There is a reason why Taiwan is keen on drawing close to Japan and South Korea.
Abe of Japan was sharp to identify this trend even during Taro Aso's tenure when the spate of 'disputes' in East Asia started.
Despite his aggressive attempt to cast the yoke of US aside, his own government has been weakened due to political meddling by the US. While everything might look hunky dory on the top, things are not what they seem to be.
Why does East Asia suddenly look so cornered and isolated in front of a regional bully? Think.
Vietnam-Japan-Taiwan-Korea-Philippines.... connecting the dots paints a very different picture.
3- That only leaves Middle East where neither of them have any interest which overlap each other.
Asking help from China against USA and vice versa will get nobody anything.
