Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. The French began the conquest of Vietnam in 1858, and in the 1880s all of present-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos came under control of France as French Indochina. During World War II Japan took control of French Indochina until its defeat in 1945, but France continued to rule Vietnam until 1954 when Vietnamese Communists led by Ho Chi Minh gained control of North Vietnam. Under the Geneva Accords of 1954, Vietnam was divided into the Communist North and anti-Communist South. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam began in the early 1960s and ended, after years of conflict, following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Communist victory and reunification of the country as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was achieved in 1975. For over a decade after reunification, Vietnam experienced little economic growth because of its centralized economic policies and growing international isolation, while Vietnam's 1978 invasion of Cambodia resulted in tensions and fighting with China. Vietnam began to emerge from international isolation after it withdrew its troops from Cambodia in 1989. China reestablished full diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1991, and a visit to Vietnam by US President Bill Clinton in 2000 was the culmination of the efforts by both countries to normalize relations. In 1986, Vietnam initiated economic reforms aimed at moving from a planned economy to a market economy. Dramatic progress has since been made in economic development, and the country's economy has become one of the fastest-growing in the world.