French Indochina was invaded by Japan via China during the Second World War, though a compromise was arranged whereby a Vichy French administration continued to run the colony whilst Japanese troops were allowed to be stationed there. This modus vivendi broke down in the final year of the war - a short-lived Vietnamese puppet-state was established by the Japanese, which later collapsed, prompting the nationalist Việt Minh movement under Hồ Chí Minh to declare independence. A long war then broke out as France attempted to reassert control, ending in their defeat and the independence of Vietnam; however the country was split in two, with North Vietnam like China now under Communist rule. In 1957 and 1958 China and North Vietnam confirmed that they both respected the border established via the Tientsin Protocol.