In 1896, France and the British Empire signed an accord recognizing each other's sphere of influence over Indochina, especially over Siam. Under this accord, Siam had to cede the province of Battambang back to the now French-controlled Cambodia. The accord acknowledged French control over Vietnam (including the colony of Cochinchina and the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin), Cambodia, as well as Laos, which was added in 1893 following French victory in the Franco-Siamese War and French influence over eastern Siam. The French government also later placed new administrative posts in the colony and began to develop it economically while introducing French culture and language to locals as part of an assimilation program.^[81]

In 1897, the ruling Resident-General complained to Paris that the current king of Cambodia, King Norodom was no longer fit to rule and asked for permission to assume the king's powers to collect taxes, issue decrees, and even appoint royal officials and choose crown princes. From that time, Norodom and the future kings of Cambodia were figureheads and merely were patrons of the Buddhist religion in Cambodia, though they were still viewed as god-kings by the peasant population. All other power was in the hands of the Resident-General and the colonial bureaucracy. This bureaucracy was formed mostly of French officials, and the only Asians freely permitted to participate in government were ethnic Vietnamese, who were viewed as the dominant Asians in the Indochinese Union.