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Chandigarh: Yet again, India revived discussions earlier this week over the long-delayed transfer of the BrahMos cruise missile system to Vietnam, reopening a strategic conversation that has resurfaced repeatedly over the past 12 years, only to lapse each time into familiar ambiguity and hesitation.

On Wednesday, P. Kumaran, secretary (east) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), announced that talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Vietnamese President To Lam in New Delhi, included discussions on the sale and maintenance of assorted military platforms for Hanoi, including the BrahMos missile.

In cryptic remarks carried in social media video clips, he was quoted as enigmatically declaring “watch this space” regarding the potential export of BrahMos to Vietnam but declined to elaborate further.

But variations of Kumaran’s formulation – ranging from tentative hints of a BrahMos missile sale to Vietnam to a stream of carefully worded official statements – have echoed through briefings since 2014, steadily losing salience with each repetition. For many strategic observers in Delhi, these recurring references now symbolise a familiar cycle in the BrahMos outreach to Vietnam: periodic signalling, intermittent hints of progress, and prolonged strategic hesitation, with little tangible movement on the ground.

The irony is difficult to ignore.

India’s “Act East” policy – articulated in 2014 under the newly elected BJP government, which projected a more muscular and robust approach to national security – was intended to accelerate deeper strategic and defence engagement with Southeast Asia through expanded military cooperation. Even so, initiatives such as the proposed BrahMos transfer to Vietnam have remained in limbo ever since.

Within months of assuming power, Modi formally recast India’s earlier “Look East” policy into a more assertive “Act East” framework during the 12th ASEAN-India Summit and the 9th East Asia Summit, held on consecutive days in Myanmar in late 2014. This marked a clear departure from the approach pursued by previous Congress-led administrations, signalling a proactive shift from passive diplomatic engagement with Southeast and East Asian countries, towards deeper strategic, economic, and military involvement across the region. 

Also read: India Upgrades Vietnam Ties Amid Hanoi’s Diplomatic Push Across Asia

Alongside, Modi also linked this to an ambitiously complementary “Think West” or “Link West” policy towards the Gulf and West Asia, aimed at strengthening India’s strategic and economic footprint across both flanks of the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific Region.

Together, this dual approach was projected by the MEA, security officials, and a largely obliging media as evidence of the BJP’s intent to fashion a more confident and........

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