Pals inspiring another's schemes (10)
I believe the answer is:
machinates
'schemes' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.
'pals inspiring another's' is the wordplay.
'pals' becomes 'mates' (I've seen this in another clue).
'inspiring' is an insertion indicator.
'another's' becomes 'china' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'mates' placed around 'china' is 'MACHINATES'.
(Another definition for machinates that I've seen is " plans".)