The biggest case for the F-35 is that it uses state of the art US electronics. As the war in Ukraine has shown, while Russian planes might have decent airframe

The biggest case for the F-35 is that it uses state of the art US electronics. As the war in Ukraine has shown, while Russian planes might have decent airframes (even the Ukrainians are using them to good measure), it's the gap in technology that's the real trump card for the US and west in general (Ukrainian MiGs are also punching above their weight as they were upgraded rather recently). NASAMs for example been very effective and have taken out state of the art Russian fighters. Plus the effectiveness of weapons like HIMARS and Javelins. Anyhow the F-35 is a bit of a dog in the air, not particularly fast nor manoeuvrable nor anything really but it incorporates state of the art technology and fires state of the art missiles. That alone makes it deadlier than anything China or Russia can field.