By the 1950s, the Hoa held such significant amounts of economic power and influence, that they were viewed as "a state within a state", forming a distinct cosmopolitan and wealthy population. The economic success of the Hoa ‌inflamed local Kinh resentment and hostility, who viewed the Chinese as conspiring with the French. The Hoa had a huge propensity to live apart from the Vietnamese, typically associating themselves with the Chinese community at large, attending Chinese institutions, marrying within their ethnic community, and projecting a sense of internal "superiority" and distinct sense of "ethnic and cultural exclusivity". After the French withdrew from Vietnam in the 1950s, the Ngo Dinh Diem government tried to Vietnamize the economy and reduce Chinese and French participation while trying to increase Vietnamese involvement to gain a proportionate presence. Kinh Vietnamese entrepreneurs were unable to compete with the Hoa and ultimately lost out due to lack of capital and business ties outside Vietnam. In 1952, the Hoa exerted great economic clout on South Vietnam's commercial business sector, as they controlled 40 percent of the aggregate wholesale enterprises and 50 percent of middle commercial shops.