CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/10/23

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02970160
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: October 23, 1953

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO _16 /
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. CEI
Cl DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: OQ 9
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATEaCY/2/79 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
3.5(c)
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
23 October 1953
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Copy No. r14. /./
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Chinese Communist airfield construction near Indochina may
include jet facilities (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. French commander depicts south Tonkin operations as overplayed
in press (page 3).
3. Burmese minister says USSR and China have offered to buy Burma's
rice (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Anglo-Egyptian negotiators fail to resolve disputed issues (page 6).
5. Comment on Arab League meeting on Palestine (page 6).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Tito seen possibly receptive to UN call for Trieste conference
(page 7).
7. French Indochina policy seen depending on continuation of French
Union (page '7).
LATIN AMERICA
British Guiana action
(page 8).
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3.3(h)(2)
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FAR EAST
1. Chinese Communist airfield construction near Indochina may include
jet iFalities:
Comment: The location of this airfield,
280 miles from Hanoi, makes it for both defensive and
offensive operations in Indochina. Military operations have been
noted on the airfield at Liu-chou. On the airfields at Fort Bayard,
Paise, Nanning and Chiung-shan, only civil aircraft have been identi-
fied, but these fields are well located for an attack against Indochina.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. French commander depicts south Tonkin operations as overplayed
In press:
3.3(h)
(2)
General Cogny, commander in Tonkin, on 3.3(h)(2)
20 October depicted French operations in
southern Tonkin as less daring in concept
and execution than press accounts indicate.
On that date the French forces were dug in at a provincial crossroads,
waiting for a major Viet Minh attack.
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Meanwhile, Governor Tri states that
the situation immediately to the rear of the French position con-
tinues to deteriorate, and that there has been an upsurge of Viet
Minh activity throughout the delta, causing appreciable losses
among French Union forces.
Comment: The American army attache
considers French actions in the current operations to be reminiscent
of General Salan's defensive tactics, which ostensibly were repudiated
by General Navarre.
The quick reappearance of Viet Minh forces
In areas "cleared" by the French remains one of the major problems
of the Indochina war effort.
3. Burmese minister says USSR and China have offered to buy Burma's
rice:
The Soviet Union and Communist China 3.3(h)(2)
have offered to purchase most of Burma's
rice surplus for several years if such stra-
tegic materials as wolfram, zinc and lead
are according to cabinet minister U Kyaw Nyein.
Kyaw Nyein commented to Ambassador
Sebald that the long-range consequences of such a deal would be dis-
astrous for Burma. He stated, however, that Burma faces a diffi-
cult problem in disposing of its rice surplus and that powerful ele-
ments in the cabinet favor accepting the Communist offer. He then
asked the ambassador whether the US could help in disposing of Bur-
mese rice through subsidizing purchases by friendly powers.
Comment: Burma has approximately
700,000 tons of unsold riceli711517.ge and a new crop is being
harvested.
The USSR, in line with its increased
emphasis on consumer goods availability, has been coupling its
usual offers for strategic items with new offers to import sub-
stantial quantities of foodstuffs and other consumer items. The
fact, however, that wolfram, a surplus commodity in the Orbit,
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was allegedly requested, that rice is currently a major Chinese
export, and that Kyaw Nyein made no reference to the method of
payment, raises some doubt that any such offer as described was
made.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Anglo-Egyptian negotiators fail to resolve disputed issues:
During a six-hour meeting on 21 October,
Anglo-Egyptian negotiators again failed
to reach agreement on the basic issues
of future availability of the Suez base,
untforms for British technicians, and the schedule for the progres-
sive reduction in number of these technicians, according to Egyptian
foreign minister Fawzi.
Fawzi told Ambassador Caffery that
general accord was reached, however, on seven years as the
duration of the agreement, on aviation matters, and on a pre-
amble statement on the Suez Canal. The foreign minister also
stated that Egypt accepted British requirements for organization
of the base.
Despite previous reports that the meeting
would be final and "decisive," both sides have indicated their willing-
ness to hold further talks.
Comment: Although no date has been set
for the next meeting, the present mood of both governments suggests
that final settlement may ultimately be achieved.
5. Comment on Arab League meeting on Palestine:
3.3(h)(2)
The Political Committee of the Arab League,
now meeting in an atmosphere of angry tension in Jordan, may be ex-
pected to produce strong statements against Israel urging positive
action short of war. Its members, aware of Israeli capabilities, are
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faced with the problem of devistng a formula which will avoid
military actIon and yet satisfy public clamor in the Arab countries.
Extravagant demands for Western punitive action agenst Israel are
likely to be one of the results.
The failure of the League, long criticized
by the Arabs for its general uselessness in the Arab-Israeli dispute,
and Western unwillingness to rebuke Israel in a way satisfactory to
the Arabs will only intensify their frustration and resentment at the
West. This will probably result in irregular violence against Israel
and possibly in local explosions dangerous both to the Arab govern-
ments and to Western installations.
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Tito seen possibly receptive to UN call for Trieste conference:
British ambassador Mallet in Belgrade,
in a generally pessimistic telegram, states
that Tito might not refuse to attend a con-
ference on Trieste proposed in a UN resolu-
tion, even if vetoed by the Soviet Union.
Foreign Secretary Eden still feels that the
8 October decision must be maintained, and
turning over the civil administration of Zone A
to nay without withdrawing the American and British troops should pro-
vide the most promising basis for convening the proposed conference.
Meanwhile, American military officials in
Rome express increasing concern over the massing of troops along
both sides of the Italo-Yugoslav border and the embassy urges that
both governments be requested to withdraw their forces 25 miles from
the frontier.
3.3(h)(2)
7. French Indochina policy seen depending on continuation of French Union:
Ambassador Dillon sees little chance that thP.3(h)(2)
French government will get the necessary sup-
port for its present policy in Indochina unless
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there is hope of continuing the French Union. He expects the
original Vietnamese National Congress resolution on the Unton
to cause even moderate deputies to waver in their support of the
government on this issue.
Comment: Since Bao Dat is expected
to issue a reassuring statement on Vietnamese adherence to the
French Union, Laniel has a good chance to weather this storm.
The debate, however, will bring increased attention to the French
Union concept, which will be the crucial point in French-Vietnamese
negotiattons.
Such heightened French feelings may also
create a serious threat to EDC ratification prospects by highlighting
France's difficulty in reconciling its overseas responsibilities with
participation in European integration schemes.
LATIN AMERICA
British Guiana action:
Comment: Latin American reaction to
Britain's handling of the Guiana crisis has been generally unfavorable.
However, comment thus far has stressed anticolonialism rather than
the possibility that the United States might use Communism as a pretext
for intervention against a Latin American government.
3.3(h)(2)
Although London's recent moves were legal
under British constitutional law, interpretations 3.3(h)(2)
may spark new protests in Latin America.
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