where month-long paramilitary courses were on offer. The government also established a national center for the Advanced Front Youth (Thanh niên tiền tuyến) in Huế. It was inaugurated on June 2, with the intention of being the centrepiece for future officer training. In late July, regional social youth centers were established in Hanoi, Huế, and Saigon. In Hanoi, the General Association of Students and Youth (Tổng hội Sinh viên và Thanh niên) was animated by the fervor of independence. The City University in Hanoi became a focal point of political agitation. By May and June, there was evidence that communist Cadres of the Viet Minh front, had infiltrated the university's youth and famine relief associations. In the face of the rising Viet Minh front, the Japanese attempted to contact its leaders, but their messengers were killed by the Viet Minh. The Kempeitai (Japanese MP and also secret police) retaliated, arresting hundreds of pro-communist Vietnamese youths in late June. Territorial unification The most notable achievement of Kim's Empire of Vietnam was the successful negotiation with Japan for the territorial unification of the nation. The French had subdivided Vietnam into three separate regions: Cochinchina (in 1862), and Annam and Tonkin (both in 1884). Cochinchina was placed under direct rule while the latter two were officially designated as protectorates. Immediately after terminating French rule, the Japanese authorities were not enthusiastic about the territorial unification of Vietnam. However, after the formation of Kim's cabinet in April, Japan quickly agreed to transfer what was then Tonkin and Annam to Kim's authority, although it retained control of the cities of Hanoi, Hải Phòng, and Đà Nẵng. Meanwhile, southern Vietnam remained under direct Japanese control, just as Cochinchina had been under French rule. Beginning in May 1945, Foreign Minister Trần Văn Chương negotiated with the Japanese in Hanoi for the transfer of the three cities to Vietnamese rule, but the Japanese stalled because Hanoi and Haiphong were seen as strategic points in their war effort. It was only in June and July that the Japanese allowed the process of national unification to take place. On June 16, Bảo Đại issued a decree proclaiming the impending reunification of Vietnam. On June 29, General Yuitsu Tsuchihashi signed a series of decrees transferring some of the duties of the government (including customs, information, youth, and sports) to the governments of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, effective July 1. Bảo Đại then