CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/01/24

Document Type: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
02993965
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
6
Document Creation Date: 
August 20, 2019
Document Release Date: 
August 30, 2019
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
January 24, 1954
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PDF icon CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULL[15689430].pdf213.84 KB
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pproved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 V ii 001//"/ //// DOCUMENT NO NO CHANGE IN CLASS. CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C DECLASSIFIED NEXT REVIEW DATE: AUTH: HR 70-2, DATE: 9 t EVIEV: 24 January 1954 oPY � CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Office of Current Intelligence CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY �/�.,,z,,,A T0-5xve-E-A< Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 iN.J.-� SUMMARY SOVIET UNION 1. USSR prepares for withdrawals from strategic state reserves to increase consumer goods production (page 3). 2. Further integration of Orbit planning scheduled (page 3). FAR EAST 3. Chinese Communist imports from the West declined in 1953 (page 4). SOUTHEAST ASIA 4. The French landing on the coast of southern Annam (page 5). NEAR EAST - AFRICA 5. Comment on Soviet veto of Western resolution on Syrian-Israeli dispute (page 5). WESTERN EUROPE 6. Bonn coalition members oppose Adenauer on powers of all-German regime (page 6). 2 24 Ian 54 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 A. * WA SOVIET UNION 1. USSR prepares for withdrawals from strategic state reserves to increase consumer goods production: the Ministry of the Aircraft In- dustry ordered the plant to "select urgently" from state reserves a list of materials re- quired for the fourth quarter program of con- sumer good's and basic production. The materials were to be returned to state reserves by the end of 1953 from allocations for current pro- duction, except for "white rolled metal, " the return of which could be delayed until 1 May 1954. Comment: This procedure still required final approval by the Council of Ministers. However, the fact that the govern- ment had already arranged details for borrowing from state reserves as strategic a material as "white rolled metal, " believed to refer to aluminum or aluminum alloys, underscores the importance being given to the immediate expansion of consumer goods output. In addition, the extra time permitted for returning the aluminum to state reserves suggests that the availability of this metal was not expected to keep pace with rising demands. This arrangement coincided with a conference convened in Moscow on 8 October by the First Chief Directorate of Aircraft Production to discuss "questions relating to assuring the out- put of high quality of consumer goods. " 2. Further integration of Orbit planning scheduled: Josef Pucik, chairman of the State Planning Office in Czechoslovakia, stated in the National Assembly on 20 January that during the period 1956-1960 parts of the economies of the USSR and the majority of the People's Democracies will be coordinated, and long-term mutual trading agreements will be concluded. - 3 - CREi 24 Jan 54 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 NW A. 1�.1-,./ A Comment: This is the first public announcement that the 1956-1960 Five-Year Plans of Orbit nations will be coordinated beyond the general directives set forth by Moscow, and indicates an important step in the trend toward greater integration of Orbit economic affairs. Orbit leaders apparently hope that by 1956 present imbalances can be corrected and a new and more closely coordinated phase of economic growth can begin. FAR EAST 3. Chinese Communist imports from the West declined in 1953: Communist China's recorded imports from the West in 1953 dropped from an estimated $165,000,000 in the first half of the year to about $120,000,000 in the second half, according to US Department of Commerce trade statistics. Increasing Western restrictions on strategic industrial imports and Peiping's slackening interest in non-strategic items will probably continue to depress the level of this trade in 1954. The proportion of China's total imports supplied by the West declined to less than 30 percent in 1953. Although the West sold China substantial quantities of drugs and industrial raw materials, almost all of the highly strategic machinery and transportation equipment used in Pei in ive-year construction program came from the Soviet bloc. 4 TOP SECRET Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 24 Jan 54 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 V1004/ 1 L.�%-a 1.N.L., A. I �610'l SOUTHEAST ASIA 4. The French landing on the coast of southern Annam: The occupation on 20 January of the Viet Minh port of Tuy Hoa, in southern Annam, by approximately 2,000 French commandos was part of a larger operation launched five days earlier. This is a step toward the final clearing of southern Vietnam which General Navarre planned to accomplish during this campaigning season. In addition to the commandos, the French have committed three mobile groups, or about 10,000 troops, drawn from bases in Annam. The scene of the present activity has been under Viet Minh control since the start of the war, but there are no more than seven regular enemy battalions nearby. The French should be able to occupy this part of Annam with little difficulty and thus give a boost to morale in both France and Vietnam. It is less probable that Vietnamese civil and military authorities will be able to prevent the re-entry of enemy guerrilla forces if and when the French regular fOrces' return to their bases. NEAR EAST - AFRICA 5. Comment on Soviet veto of Western resolution on Syrian-Israeli dispute: The Soviet veto of the Western plan for dealing with Syria's complaint over Israeli efforts to divert the upper Jordan river eliminates any prospect for a speedy settlement of the problem. It may even encourage Israel to resume its construction activities, despite the UN directive to the contrary. In voting with Lebanon against the Security Council resolution, the USSR encourages Arab charges that the West supports Israel on all PMestine questions. Despite recent gestures toward Syria, the Soviet action seems designed more to hamper such Western regional efforts as the Unified Plan for developing the Jordan river, than to represent any new policy toward the Arab States. Indirectly the Soviet action seems likely to encourage neutralist tendencies, par- ticularly in Syria and Egypt. 5 24 Jan 54 TOP RET Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965 40'1 The Soviet veto may have the effect of encouraging Arab and Israeli stubbornness on the Unified Plan, which each side has hoped would be rejected by the other. The Arab states have opposed it on political grounds, and Israel because it hoped to gain more from its own project. WESTERN EUROPE 6. Bonn coalition members oppose Adenauer on powers of all-German regime: Most leaders of the West German coalition parties oppose Chancellor Adenauer's acceptance of the joint Western position that authority should be only gradually transferred om an German governments to a unified German regime. Instead, they want an all-German government to have complete authority from the outset. They have told American officials in Bonn, however, that they will not oppose Adenauer publicly so long as the issue remains "theoretical. " Comment: The issue would not remain "theoretical" if the Allies should obtain Soviet agreement to the principle of free all-German elections, since the nature and powers of a unified German regime would then come under discussion. In that case, Adenauer would be under considerable pressure from' his own government to abandon the present Western position of keeping both West and East German governments in existence until such time as a unified regime can clearly maintain itself. 6 TOPS 24 San 54 Approved for Release: 2019/08/02 CO2993965