Power player A meets power player B, they discuss what they hope to do in the near future - plans and interests. Perhaps they will have matters of mutual interest - thats great.

Then they seperately take action, happy to know what positions and interests the other players in the game have.

Apple and Oracle were both threatened by Android. No-one needed egging on, no-one needed secret deals. They were open and above board about wanting to screw over Larry and Sergey. :-)