Su-57 is target of arguably loudest smearing campaign in modern aviation community. Most people doing that, on the check, don't know anything on subject matter. Like what's the point of pointing fingers at average quora aviation specialist, if someone like J. Bronk only discovered that su-57 doesn't have exposed rivets (unlike early prototypes) this winter. If actually informed speaking heads are this bad, what to expect from "pretty much the whole world".
The first Su-57 model to demonstrate a high level of surface finish did not emerge until last winter. The airframe has potential, and once all its subsystems and components as well as manufacturing processes reach maturity it should be a pretty formidable fighter. However, it remains to be seen how long it will take Russia to scale up production. It is likely going to be many years before production reaches a rate at which meaningful exports would be possible.
Vietnam and Philippines hates China and still too low budget.
Vietnam? Obviously somebody hasn't been paying attention to much news within the last.... 5 years or so (and especially the past few weeks). Though likelihood of Vietnam buying Chinese advanced military hardware is still low.
Pakistan would be hopeless in any prolonged conventional conflict against India. India has a population that is 5.6x times larger, an economy that is 11x larger (both real and nominal), a military budget that is 9x larger, and very importantly much greater strategic depth. The entirety of Pakistan, as well as all of Pakistani ports are well within range of short and medium range missiles from India, whereas the majority of Indian territory and most of India's ports are outside of strike range from Pakistan. The cost-effectiveness of Chinese weapons coupled with the corruption of Indian military procurement does not offset a difference on the order of magnitude in available resources. India vs Pakistan overmatch is even greater than that of Russia vs Ukraine.
Given the disparity in resources, Pakistan could not hope to comprehensively match India's conventional warfighting capabilities, and its strategy of focusing on pockets of excellence (ie PAF) is wise. Focus on capabilities that enable Pakistan to blunt and/or hit back against India in short, limited-scope confrontations rather than prepare to fight an all-out conventional war. Unlike Ukraine, Pakistan possesses a strategic arsenal which serves as the ultimate hedge against defeat in a major conventional conflict with India. As long as Pakistan maintains a credible strategic deterrent, India would not dare to pursue all-out conventional warfare against Pakistan.
Investing in AD? Useless if you cannot afford to spend at least twice as much on AD as your opponent does on offensive missile platforms, regardless of how advanced your AD systems are. Even Russian AD has been far from completely effective against Ukrainian missile strikes. It would be far more effective for Pakistan to instead invest in offensive capabilities in the form of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.
More importantly, Pakistan needs to focus on domestic stability, internal security, and economic growth. BRI and CPEC are tremendous opportunities for Pakistan. Pakistan should be looking to take over labor-intensive portions of Chinese supply chains. Pakistan should be attracting Chinese companies to build factories for the final assembly of Chinese products, which can then be shipped out to the rest of the world from Gwadar, Karachi, and Qasim. Once the foundations of a modern manufacturing base has been created, Pakistan can seek to further integrate with Chinese supply chains and take steps to move upwards in the value chain as well.
