CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/03/09

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02980787
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: March 9, 1954

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
Go
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
LI DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE. 2 0 0 9
AUTH: HR
DATE: REVIEWER
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
3.3(h)(2)
9 March 1954 3.5(c)
Copy No, 84
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Finnish firm negotiating for construction of second cargo vessel
for Communist China (page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2. Comment on Soviet decree attacking lagging grain production
(page 3).
FAR EAST
3. South Korean foreign minister asks "clarifications" on Geneva talks
(page 4).
4. Chinese Communist bombers move to base near Tachen Islands
(page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Iraqi prime minister presses for arms agreement with United States
(page 5).
6. Anti-Bennike sentiment developing in Israel (page 6).
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Czech Border Guard officers instructed in atomic weapons and
countermeasures (page 6).
WESTERN EUROPE
8. France hoping for change in Washington's policy toward Peiping
(page 7).
9. Comment on ouster of French Communist leader (page 7).
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GENERAL
1. Finnish firm negotiating for construction of second cargo vessel
for Communist China:
A Finnish shipyard is negotiating with
Communist China for the construction
of a second 8,000-ton cargo ship. The
Chinese are willing to pay $3,500,000,
half of it in sterling. The yard is anxious to secure the contract
since this "most favorable" price would help Finnish shipbuilding
firms to get higher prices from the Soviet Union in subsequent
negotiations.
Finnish government officials, who fear
that the yard will sign the contract, state that severe political
repercussions might follow any refusal to issue an export license.
Comment: The same firm contracted
last August to deliver a similar vessel to Communist China in late
1954. These would be Peiping's first modern ocean-going vessels.
A representative of the Finnish ship-
building industry suggested to the American minister in Helsinki
recently that the United States help secure contracts from Western
countries to reduce the industry's dependence on the USSR.
SOVIET UNION
2. Comment on Soviet decree attacking lagging grain production:
In the first major Soviet agricultural
decree since last October, the party
central committee has issued a sweep-
ing indictment of the results of the new agricultural program and
for the first time has attacked inadequate grain production. The
State Planning Commission, which had escaped the recent barrage
of criticism of economic ministries, was singled out for censure
for misguiding agricultural production.
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TOSCRET
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In noting that grain yields have been
insufficient to meet requirements of the expanding population,
and that grain acreages have fallen below the 1940 level, the
decree reverses Malenkov's statement of last August, with which
Khrushchev concurred, that "the country has plenty of grain."
The decree also makes the first official reference to "growing
export needs." Grain exports, traditionally the most dependable
Soviet foreign exchange earner, fell sharply in the past year but
must play a major role in the projected expansion of Soviet trade
with the West.
The government announced plans to
reclaim more than 30,000,000 acres of marginal land in the next
two years and to assign 100,000 other workers to the new lands,
in order to remedy the grain shortage. Despite these measures,
however, unfavorable soil and climate conditions in the areas to
be reclaimed limit the prospects of success.
FAR EAST
3. South Korean foreign minister asks "clarifications" on Geneva talks:
Foreign Minister Pyun wrote Secretary
Dulles on 3 March asking for "clarifica-
tions" on the Geneva conference before
South Korea decides on whether to attend.
The foreign minister objected to the status
of sponsor and "quasi-sponsor" given Moscow and Peiping respectively,
and asked whether the assurances regarding a "strictly Korean" peace
conference which Dulles gave President Rhee last August hold good at
Geneva. He argued that simultaneous discussions on Indochina and
Korea implied a "package deal for the Orient" and said his government
could not allow the enemy to shift back and forth between the issues as
a bargaining tactic.
Pyun also inquired if a deadline would be
placed on the proposed parley and whether the United States would
"abandon" peaceful means and resort to force again "after the failure
of the conference."
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Comment: While the note reflects
South Korea's concern over its ability to control the conference
decisions, it also revives some of the issues previously settled
by Secretary Dulles last August and suggests that it may demand
some concession, as the price for its attendance at Geneva.
4. Chinese Communist bombers move to base near Tachen Islands:
Comment:
TU-2's involved in the move to Hangchow. Communist
om ers at Hangchow could be used in an attack against the nearby
Tachen Islands off the coast of Chekiang Province, now held by the
Chinese Nationalists. Peiping is not expected, however, to under-
take new military ventures prior to its appearance at the Geneva
conference.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Iraqi prime minister presses for arms agreement with United States:
Iraqi prime minister Jamali on 4 March
told Ambassador Berry that he wants to
conclude an arms aid agreement with the
United States immediately, so that parlia-
ment and the extremist press will have no opportunity to agitate
against it.
In order to avoid the necessity of referring
the agreement to parliament, however, Jamali urged that the provi-
sion relating to customs and taxation exemptions be eliminated. He
also asked for deletion of references to Iraqi military services to be
provided the United States and to the Western declaration of 1950
guaranteeing Middle Eastern borders on grounds that they would
arouse strong opposition in Iraq.
TOP RET
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Comment: Jamali's cabinet reorgani-
zation on 8 March indicates that he continues to have at least the
lukewarm support of ex-prime minister Nun, who controls parlia-
ment. Jamali's continuance in office, however, is no assurance
that he can secure parliamentary approval of an aid agreement or
of his proposed adherence to the Turkish-Pakistani pact.
6. Anti-Bennike sentiment developing in Israel:
The Israeli press, which has periodically
criticized General Bennike, the UN Truce
supervisor, has sharpened its attack since
Bennike submitted his 24 February report
on the continuing Arab-Israeli border tension. Comments range from
the charge that Bennike lacks objectivity to the accusation that he showed
"flagrant anti-Israel bias." According to the American embassy in Tel
Aviv, Israel's reaction has been one of "stunned surprise and amazement."
Comment: Israel's initially favorable atti-
tude toward Bennike changed to one of frustration and bitterness follow-
ing his adverse decisions regarding the incidents on the Syrian and
Egyptian borders last fall, and a press campaign has gradually developed
against him. Since his recent report was submitted, more Israeli edi-
torials are suggesting that his attitude and actions disqualify him for
continuing in the UN post.
Most American observers in the area believe
that General Bennike's approach to his difficult task has been one of firm
impartiality.
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Czech Border Guard officers instructed in atomic weapons and
countermeasures:
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Comment: Conduct of such training in
a Satellite border guard formation makes it likely that similar train-
ing is under way in Satellite armies.
WESTERN EUROPE
8. France hoping for change in Washington's policy toward Peiping:
According to the American embassy in
Paris, Premier Laniel in his speech to
the National Assembly on 5 March clearly
implied that if an Indochina settlement is
to be agreed on at Geneva, France's allies will have to make conces-
sions to Communist China. The Foreign Ministry representative who
drafted Laniel's speech told the embassy that in his opinion success
or failure of the Geneva conference will depend on whether the United
States revises its policy toward China.
The Foreign Ministry official also stated
that the conditions the premier outlined for a cease-fire in Indochina
were purposely made unacceptable to the Viet Minh. This tactic was
used to avoid consideration of the question in France before the Geneva
conference.
9. Comment on ouster of French Communist leader:
The ouster of Auguste Lecoeur from the
French Communist Party's secretariat
indicates an intensification of the Communist
campaign for united action with the Socialists
and "all patriotic Frenchmen" to defeat EI)C. In the course of his 5
March attack on Lecoeur, acting party leader Jacques Duclos reiterated
the party's willingness to support a government committed to blocking
German rearmament.
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Lecoeur, until now considered France's
number three Communist, had given only lukewarm support to Moscow-
directed united front tactics. His successor, Marcel Servin, has
reportedly been in charge of the party's liaison with the USSR since the
fall of 1950.
During the past year sentiment has been
growing in non-Communist circles for a "popular front" including
the Communists. Lecoeur's ouster will probably be cited as "evidence"
of Communist sincerity by such groups as the recently formed Jacobins'
Club. This organization consists mainly of Socialists, Radical Social-
ists, and Popular Republicans who are openly hostile to EDC and German
rearmament and who advocate closer relations with the USSR.
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