Indo-China is the name of France's colonial possessions in the eastern portion of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and consists of the Colony of Cochin-China and the Protectorates of Tongking, Laos, Annam, Cambodia and Battambang. It covers a territory of roughly 280,000 square miles, and has a population of about 23,000,000 people. The territory is administered by a French Governor-General with headquarters at Saigon in the southeastern part of the peninsula, under whom are the Governor of Cochin-China and the Resident Superiors of the Protectorates.
The threat to the French colonial possession of Indo-China, which had been anticipated by the government of France since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war in the summer of 1937, became a reality in the summer of 1940. In anticipation of this, France had, from mid-summer of 1937 to the spring of 1940, expended more than 3,000,000,000 francs on defense measures, and in addition to this the Indo-China budgets for 1938 and 1939 provided for another 800,000,000 francs for such purposes.
The capture of the Chinese city of Nanning by the Japanese armed forces in November 1939, was a source of grave concern to the Indo-Chinese authorities, since Nanning is only 82 miles from the Indo-Chinese border. This concern was shared by the Indo-Chinese people themselves who, following the course of the war in China, have lost faith in Japan's declaration of benevolent intentions towards all countries of the Far East, and have looked to the French to save them from conquest by Japan.
When the fall of France seemed imminent in June 1940, Japan announced to the western powers that she would strongly object to seeing Indo-China placed under the protection of either Great Britain or the United States. When France signed an armistice with Germany on June 18, Japan at once requested the French authorities to stop all traffic in arms and munitions on the Indo-China railway destined for the armies of Chiang Kai-shek, and also asked that 'inspectors' be stationed at various places along the road to examine all shipments destined for the Chungking Government. These requests were granted. Shortly after, a further demand was made for the passage of Japanese troops through Indo-China for an attack on China by way of the Province of Yunnan. France was at first unwilling to accede to this request, but after somewhat lengthy negotiations, permission was granted. On Sept. 23 an agreement was signed between Japan and the Vichy Government for (1) the immediate landing of a 'limited' number of Japanese troops at Haiphong, the port for Hanoi in northern Indo-China; (2) the establishment of air bases in Tongking, including one base near Hanoi; (3) permission for the Japanese to bring in only 6,000 troops to garrison the air bases; and (4) the right to maintain a 'few effectives' at Haiphong.
Even before the agreement was signed, Japanese troops had crossed the border of Indo-China at Dong Dang in the northeast, where they were stopped by the French after some fighting.
Late in November, further demands were made by Japan, involving the control of Saigon, a large and important naval and commercial base in the southeast, which demands would, if granted, constitute a threat to the British naval base at Singapore, and also to the American naval base at Manila across the China Sea. These demands were still under consideration as the year closed, and meanwhile sporadic fighting occurred between Indo-Chinese and Japanese troops until late December.
Difficulties also arose with Thailand, Indo-China's neighbor to the West, after the fall of France in June. Immediately upon the signing of the Franco-German armistice, Thailand massed troops along the Indo-China border, and at the same time presented demands for a remarking of the boundary line between the two countries, which had been under dispute for some time, and also for a return of certain territories in the districts of Laos and Cambodia, which Thailand claimed France had taken forcibly from her in 1907. The Vichy Government rejected Thailand's territorial demands, but expressed a willingness to discuss settlement of the boundary dispute. Thai troops crossed the Indo-China border in September, and from that time down to the end of the year, there was almost constant fighting along the entire length of the Mekong River which lies between the two countries. As the year closed a French mission was preparing to go to Bangkok to try to arrive at an amicable settlement of the border disputes. See also JAPAN; THAILAND.
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