Part of the country series of articles.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: EXERCISE CAUTIONThe Commonwealth advises travellers to exercise caution in this country. Some areas or circumstances may carry elevated risk. Travellers should monitor local conditions and follow the guidance of local authorities.
| Republic of Indochine | |
|---|---|
| Maritime Republic | |
 |
|
| Capital | Saigon |
| Languages | French, Vietnamese, Khmer, and Cantonese |
| Population | 8,400,000 |
The Republic of Indochine (commonly Saigon) is a maritime republic in Southeast Asia and has one of the busiest ports in the region. It is a former French colonial capital with a long and complicated history with Vietnam, despite its largely Vietnamese population. Perhaps because of this history, Saigon has a close political and cultural relationship with France, and also retains extensive French legal and administrative frameworks, largely to preserve its independence from Hanoi. It nonetheless has good trade relations with Vietnam despite Hanoi’s longstanding claim to unification, and is a major supplier of rice and fish to the north.
Saigon has substantial banking and refining industries, and has become the principal financial gateway to Southeast Asia for French and Japanese capital. It exports refined oil, rubber and Kampot pepper (much of which comes from the old Cambodian territory to its west). It is also famous for its banks, which compete with Singapore for the business of the region’s shipowners and merchant families, and its old French quarter, a district of wide boulevards, shuttered villas and a cathedral built from bricks shipped out from Marseille.