an armed criminal syndicate. Parts of the Mekong Delta were controlled by the private armies of the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects.[14] Hội went to meet Phạm Công Tắc, the pope of the Cao Đài, and his entourage in their stronghold of Tây Ninh west of Saigon near the border with Cambodia. He went to a secret meeting with the Cao Đài general Trình Minh Thế at his base on Núi Bà Đen. Hội went on to meet with the Hòa Hảo in the Delta city of Cần Thơ and also met with Bình Xuyên leaders in Cholon. He further met with labor groups, army officers and representatives of the educated class. Later when the Saigon press was censored and partly shut down, he outlined his vision for Vietnam in the Paris magazine L'Express.[15] Neutralism Bửu Hội advocated a new "government of national solidarity" in Saigon that incorporated the religious sects. This contrasted to Diệm, who wanted to have unchallenged power with the sects in a subservient position. He felt that this would foster reconciliation between non-Communist nationalists in the south. Bửu Hội opposed a military buildup in the south, reasoning that the best defense against insurrection came from fostering popular participation in the administrative and economic institutions of the state. He favoured neutralism in South Vietnam's foreign affairs while remaining on positive terms with France and the United States. He argued that the colonial era and Vietnam's natural place in Asia was to join other nations such as India in a policy of non-alignment. He hoped that both North and South Vietnam could be admitted to the United Nations. Diệm rejected these moderate policies, believing that a militantly anti-Communist stance was the solution for South Vietnam. This coincided with a fact finding mission by Democratic Party U.S. Senator Mike Mansfield, a Roman Catholic and strong Diệm supporter, who advocated a suspension of U.S. aid if Diệm were removed. L'Express, the newspaper in Paris which printed his ideas, was considered to be friendly with French Prime Minister Pierre Mendès France. As a result, the US State Department interpreted it as a French manoeuvre to replace Diệm with Hội. Strongly disapproving of Hội's foreign policies, the State Department warned Mendes-France that U.S. policy would change if Hội became Prime Minister.[16] In 1958, Bửu Hội resumed work for Diệm on the international front. He was charged with attending to the