New Delhi: India and Vietnam on Wednesday (May 6) upgraded ties to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, rolling out agreements on rare earths, pharmaceutical access and digital payments while setting a $25 billion trade target, as Vietnamese President To Lam arrived in New Delhi amid a rapid diplomatic outreach to Asia’s major powers after consolidating his position as Vietnam’s most powerful leader in decades.Barely a month after assuming the presidency while retaining his post as Communist Party chief, Lam has already travelled to China, hosted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung as the first foreign leader under the new leadership structure, and welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae to Hanoi.His India visit slots into Hanoi’s familiar balancing strategy as the Asian power jostles to consolidate ties across the Indo-Pacific amidst the global uncertainty fuelled by the Iran war and Washington’s trade policies.Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the upgrade at a joint press appearance at Hyderabad House, calling Vietnam “one of the main pillars of India’s Act East policy and Vision Mahasagar”. He said the two countries had “a common outlook in the Indo-Pacific region” and would “continue to contribute to the rule of law, peace, stability and prosperity through our strengthened security cooperation”.The language was notably more restrained than when Modi last hosted a Vietnamese leader. In August 2024, standing alongside then-Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, he declared, “We support evolution, not expansionism”, and backed “a free, open, rules-based and prosperous Indo-Pacific” – remarks widely interpreted as indirect references to China’s growing assertiveness.Neither formulation, both widely read as implicit references to China’s territorial assertiveness, figured in Modi’s remarks on Tuesday, though the joint statement retained the phrase “free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region”.The tonal shift reflects India’s broader recalibration of its public messaging on China since the October 2024 patrolling agreement that ended the four-year military stand-off along the Line of Actual Control.At the same time, the joint statement broadly retained earlier language on the South China Sea, reiterating support for freedom of navigation, peaceful dispute resolution under UNCLOS, non-militarisation, self-restraint and an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct.Defence: BrahMos on the table, not on the dotted lineDefence was the most closely watched aspect of the visit, with the question of a possible BrahMos supersonic cruise missile sale to Vietnam drawing the most attention. No announcement was made, but secretary (east) with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) P. Kumaran’s response at the MEA press briefing suggested talks are continuing.“We do talk about a number of platforms and the BrahMos platform is also one of them. Watch this space,” he said, asserting that cooperation was based on the premise that “a strong Vietnam will serve the cause of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific”.Lam, speaking earlier at the MEA think-tank Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA), signalled that Hanoi wanted more. “Excellent as defence and security cooperation has been, it should grow better and deeper,” he said. “Cooperation mechanisms are available and they must be better harnessed.”India had first offered a $500 million defence line of credit in 2016, but it has yet to be utilised a decade later.In answer to a question, Kumaran said that projects worth $300 million have been identified, with tendering underway for 14 high-speed patrol boats and three to four offshore patrol vessels. The remaining $200 million will cover a second phase involving possible upgrades to Vietnam Navy ships and the purchase of submarine batteries.Modi made a new offer during the talks, proposing maintenance and MRO support for Vietnam’s Russian-origin Sukhoi-30 fighters and Kilo-class submarines. “The prime minister actually specifically offered to President To Lam during this visit our willingness to service these platforms, saying that we have capacities to maintain these platforms,” said the senior MEA official. Lam “thanked us for the offer and said he will get the teams to study”.The two sides also agreed to explore a ‘two plus two’ dialogue mechanism between their foreign and defence ministries, a format India reserves for a small number of key strategic partners. They are pursuing an agreement on white shipping information sharing and cybersecurity.A delegation from the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers visited Vietnam in March to explore procurement opportunities, and the joint statement welcomed the inaugural joint hydrographic survey conducted by the two navies off Vietnam’s coast in May 2025.Trade, rare earths and pharmaBilateral trade has doubled to $16 billion over the past decade. The new $25 billion target for 2030 is modest relative to the goals Vietnam has set with other partners. South Korea and Vietnam are aiming for $150 billion by 2030, and Japan and Vietnam agreed to $60 billion during Takaichi’s visit.The rare earths memorandum of understanding (MoU) between IREL Limited and VINATOM of Vietnam was among the more substantive deliverables of this visit.Kumaran explained that Vietnam would first provide samples for evaluation in India, followed by on-ground investigations and a potential joint venture to extract, beneficiate and process the minerals, with output shared by mutual agreement. Japan signed similar critical minerals agreements with Vietnam days earlier, underscoring Hanoi’s emergence as a sought-after partner in the rare earths space.On pharmaceuticals, an MoU between the Central Drugs Standards Control Office and the Drug Administration of Vietnam will facilitate market access for Indian companies. The joint statement also noted both sides will explore the “potential participation of Indian companies in the procurement of medicines for Vietnamese public healthcare facilities from 2027”.Lam made a direct pitch to Indian drugs firms. “We welcome Indian pharmaceutical firms investing into manufacturing in Vietnam for the Southeast Asian market,” he said, identifying pharmaceuticals, IT, agribusiness and clean energy as “highly complementary sectors” where the two countries should pursue “joint production, technology transfer, market development”.He also pushed for cooperation in semiconductors, AI and digital transformation to move beyond frameworks into delivery, calling for “identifying spearheads and their delivery models” rather than just setting guidelines.‘Mera naam, tera naam, Vietnam’In his ICWA speech, Lam leaned heavily on the history of India-Vietnam solidarity, recalling that Nehru was “the first foreign head of government to pay a visit to Vietnam in 1954, a mere week after the liberation of Hanoi in full”.Referencing a slogan from India’s anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s and 1970s, he said, “Nor shall we ever forget ‘mera naam, tera naam, Vietnam, Vietnam‘ that resounded along the streets in so many Indian cities that evidenced the solidarity and camaraderie between our two peoples in the shared struggle for peace, independence and freedom for our nations”.He quoted the late-Prime Minister Pham Van Dong’s description of the relationship as “a special relationship, clear as a cloudless sky” and said it was “special and pure because there is no conflict between our interests”.Hanoi’s balancing actThe speech was also a window into how Hanoi observes the current global moment. Lam spoke of the “paradoxes of our time”, where “the need for cooperation grows greater, yet trust is wearing thin” and “economic structures are now more deeply interconnected, yet are also more vulnerable”.He argued that Vietnam and India had become “natural partners” sharing a vision built on “strategic self-reliance and balance” and “diversification of partners.That vocabulary maps onto Vietnam’s “Four Nos” doctrine of no military alliances, no siding with one country against another, no foreign military bases, and no use of force in international relations.As analyst Khang Vu argued in The Diplomat, Vietnam’s relationship with any one power “is rarely only about the two countries, because Hanoi’s dense web of partnerships requires constant calibration”.Since 2023, Vietnam has upgraded to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) level with Japan, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the United Kingdom, adding to existing CSPs with China, Russia, India and South Korea.India’s upgrade to “Enhanced” Comprehensive Strategic Partnership follows this pattern.