By Tao Jun, Bui Long

HANOI, May 8 (Xinhua) -- China has made significant contributions to the global socialist movement by adapting Marxism to its own context, a top official of Vietnam's central party school has commented.

"The Communist Party of China (CPC) has developed and added theories (to Marxism), and I assume these have made many great contributions to the world's communist and socialist movements," Nguyen Viet Thao, vice president of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and Public Administration (HCMA), told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

Such "significant theoretical contributions" include the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, he said.

Xi's thought "means much, not only to China's reform and opening up, but also to the socialist construction in the world, including Vietnam," said the HCMA official.

Vietnam is learning from CPC practices, especially Xi's Thought, he said. "That is the creative application and development of Marxism in the new context." Only by doing so can communists worldwide inject fresh vitality into developing a communist ideology, Thao added.

Among the examples are China's reform and opening up, where the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the Vietnamese people have over the years have witnessed the CPC's progressive theoretical thinking, said the top official of Vietnam's central party school.

For countries still finding their way, "It is natural that Marxism continues to be the most important theoretical foundation," Thao said, adding that he believes Marxism remains valuable and instructive in modern times, managing problems where capitalism falls short.

He said he thinks Marxism plays a role in creating national development strategies.

Speaking of the recent international symposium hosted by Vietnam on The Communist Manifesto, the HCMA vice president said scholars affirmed the theoretical and practical value of the 170-year-old political pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

To mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Marx this year, Thao said the HCMA will sponsor an international conference later in May, and expressed hope that the CPC would participate and contribute to making it a success.