<span>C. France. </span><span>France had held colonial claims in Vietnam and other neighboring countries, in what was called French Indochina, since the 1880s. During World War II, when Japan was taking control of territories in Asia, the Japanese tolerated the French remaining present in their Indochina territories. Following the war, France sought to retain and reassert its colonial control over the region, but the First Indochina War (beginning in 1946) was Vietnam's effort to establish its independence of French control.</span>
After the war, Japan had to leave the country because they lost and the country became a colony of France. It stayed as a colony of France until the Vietnam war when the northerners wanted to establish a communist government and gain independence. When France left Vietnam and didn't want to fight, the United States joined out of fear of communism spreading throughout the SEA region.
