Blackmailed by Trump, India also gets angry: Not buying F-35 anymore!
After being insulted and blackmailed by Trump for several days, India has announced its "countermeasure": putting the plan to purchase US F-35 fighter jets on hold.
Some Indian officials told Indian media that after Trump proposed selling the F-35, the Modi government had initially considered the proposal, but eventually decided to reject it. "India has made its position clear to the United States: it is not interested in purchasing ready-made defense equipment, and the future focus will be on buying domestically designed and manufactured equipment."
Therefore, the Modi government is unlikely to approve any new major defense deals with the United States in the near future.
But to be honest, based on Trump's casual tone when promoting the F-35 and his history of unreliable statements, it's likely that Trump was just casually mentioning "the F-35 can also be sold to India" at that time, and India took it seriously.
However, from subsequent contacts between the US and India, as well as reports from American military media, it appears that Trump completely forgot he had promised to sell the F-35 to India. The American military media has not reported any communication between the US and India regarding this matter. From start to finish, only Indian media speculated about how many F-35s they wanted to buy and how to choose between the F-35 and the Su-57.
Therefore, India's current clear statement that it does not intend to buy the F-35 is somewhat self-delusional — the US and India have never reached any verbal or written agreement or memorandum of understanding on this deal, only Trump's empty words.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839249332500492/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.