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Originally Posted by Tronic
Zrav, what is this in reference to? As far as I know, China and India have always been at war footing or in hostility mode with each other. Even during the Indo-Chin bhai bhai (India-China brother-brother) years; China and India were at odds with each other as India supported Tibet over China and even gave sanctuary to the Dalai Lama and all Tibetans fleeing Tibet after the Chinese invasion.
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from 1947-49 they were nominal allies, and the Indian and Chinese peoples were allies during WW2. But I was referring to the fact that both India and China had been US allies in the past.
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zrav, Indian political situation cannot allow an Indo-US alliance in the Indian sphere.
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Formal- I agree at least for now. But not all alliances are formal.
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I mean, one can look at the Indo-US Nuclear deal for an example. The Congress government is in a position that if it goes ahead with the deal, its communist allies pull out of the coalition and it topples the government, hence, new elections. If, it rejects the deal, then although it stays in power, it looses huge support and credibility in the next election and on the international front. So, they just stall the deal hoping that when the US administration changes, the new US administration itself cancels the deal. Indian politics is quite pathetic, which almost every Indian is sick of. 
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Political conditions today do not automatically forecast political conditions in 5 or 10 or 20 years. India and the US are not enemies and so it is easy to move from friendly to friend, to ally over time. However more importantly increasing US-Indian ties force China to adjust to the possibility of back room deals.
And thats the elegance of modern US diplomacy in the region. It is not centered on alliances but on friendship and potential economic leverage. All the US has to do is keep the other powers neutral and China lacks any strategic depth in the waters around Asia and thus a massive coast line to defend most of which will never be anything but a drain on China's budget. It's a classic defenders dilemma. As long as South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Australia, Singapore, Phillipines, and Vietnam are or might be (secret) US Allies China has to defend against them all.
Granted the US has other commitments that drain resources. Luckily for the US is the decades long head start to build power projection assets.