![]() Mon-Khmer groups, the Hmong, and other indigenous hill tribes live in the foothills and mountains. The politically and culturally dominant Lao people make up 53.2% of the population, mostly in the lowlands. It is a one-party socialist republic, espousing Marxism–Leninism and governed by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, under which non-governmental organisations have routinely characterised the country's human rights record as poor, citing repeated abuses such as torture, restrictions on civil liberties and persecution of minorities. Laos applied for membership of the World Trade Organization in 1997 on 2 February 2013, it was granted full membership. Laos is a member of the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, the ASEAN, East Asia Summit, and La Francophonie. Laos was then dependent on military and economic aid from the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the communist Pathet Lao came to power, ending the civil war. A post-independence civil war began, which saw the communist resistance, supported by the Soviet Union, fight against the monarchy that later came under influence of military regimes supported by the United States. Laos became independent in 1953, with a constitutional monarchy under Sisavang Vong. It briefly gained independence in 1945 after Japanese occupation but was re-colonised by France until it won autonomy in 1949. In 1893, the three territories came under a French protectorate and were united to form what is now known as Laos. After a period of internal conflict, Lan Xang broke into three separate kingdoms: Luang Phrabang, Vientiane and Champasak. Because of its central geographical location in Southeast Asia, the kingdom became a hub for overland trade and became wealthy economically and culturally. Present-day Laos traces its historic and cultural identity to Lan Xang, which existed from the 14th century to the 18th century as one of the largest kingdoms in Southeast Asia. Its capital and largest city is Vientiane. At the heart of the Indochinese Peninsula, Laos is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and southwest. Laos ( / ˈ l ɑː oʊ s/ ( listen) ), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist state and the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia.
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