Beijing (VNA) – Many Chinese experts and scholars have expressed deep sadness about the passing of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong while affirming the leader’s important role in the development of Vietnam and the two countries’ relations.

Talking to the Vietnam News Agency, Prof. Xu Liping, Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS), said General Secretary Trong was a great revolutionary, strategist, and ideologist who significantly contributed to not only the Doi moi (Renewal) and door-opening cause of Vietnam but also the two countries’ relations.

The leader, who breathed his last on July 19, left highly diverse political legacy for Vietnam and even the world basing on which successive generations will continue promoting Vietnam on the path of unceasing development to become a powerful socialist nation and bring the cause of renewal and door opening to a new height, Xu noted.

The expert held that being granted the Gold Star Order – the noblest reward of the Vietnamese Party and State – was the recognition of Trong’s outstanding dedications to the fields of Party building and national and social governance, as well as his enormous contributions to the international community.

He said the General Secretary put fourth theoretical reforms in such areas as building a socialist-oriented market economy, developing a progressive culture deeply imbued with the national characteristics, fighting corruption and negative phenomena, and building the Party and the political system. All the ideas centre on the people, come from the people’s demand, and match the country’s conditions and situation, becoming precious spiritual legacy he left for the country.

Mentioning the Party chief’s contributions to the Vietnam - China relations, Xu noted General Secretaries Trong and Xi Jinping, as the top leaders of the two Parties and the two countries, stepped up Party-to-Party exchanges to strengthen strategic trust, thus creating a solid foundation for cooperation and trust between the two States and the two peoples.

Dr Cheng Hanping, Director of the Vietnam Research Centre at the Zhejiang University of Technology, also shared the view that Trong made outstanding contributions to the development of bilateral relations and the long-lasting friendship between the countries.

In 2022, the General Secretary was granted the Friendship Order by the Chinese Government, which reflected the Chinese Government and people’s recognition of his considerable dedications to bilateral ties, Cheng went on.

He noted that the “bamboo diplomacy” policy, initiated by Trong, is not only an inheritance of Vietnam’s history and President Ho Chi Minh’s thought on diplomacy, but also based on the current situation and the special context that big countries compete with one another.

Thanks to the “bamboo diplomacy”, Vietnam has made friends with major nations, expanded friendship without affecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and maximised its national interests. This policy has helped create big economic miracles for Vietnam and raise the country’s stature in the international arena, according to Cheng.

Researching Vietnam for many years, Prof. Yu Xiangdong, Director of the Institute for Vietnam Studies at the Zhengzhou University, held that General Secretary Trong was a theorist and politician staying steadfast in Marxism - Leninism and leading the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and people on the path towards socialism.

He said the leader inherited and brought into play Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, promoted the reform of the theoretical mindset and the cause of Doi moi (Renewal) and door opening to relentlessly improve the quality of people’s life, especially via the 13th National CPV Congress, which set the goal of developing a modernised and powerful country in the medium and long terms. He made outstanding contributions and was beloved by people.

Under Trong’s leadership, Vietnam built the new model of “bamboo diplomacy” to make use of the favourable external environment for national development. In late 2023, Chinese Party General Secretary Xin Jinping and CPV General Secretary Trong reached the common perception on the building of a China - Vietnaꦚm community with a shared future that carries strategic significance, heralding a new period for the countries’ neighbourliness and friendship, practically generating happiness for the two peoples, and contributing to peace and development of humankind, Yu told the VNA./.