 Through the late 1920s, he acted as a Comintern agent to help build Communist movements in Southeast Asia.During the 1930s, the CPV was nearly wiped out under French suppression with the execution of top leaders such as Phú, Lê Hồng Phong, and Nguyễn Văn Cừ.During World War II, Japan invaded Indochina in 1940, keeping the Vichy French colonial administration in place as a puppet.