CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/02/07

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02993973
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: February 7, 1954

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: CC 9
AUTH: HR 70:
DATE: _44Si_ HEVIEWER:
41/4 Ir.
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
3.3(h)(2)
7 February 1954 3.5(c)
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. French Foreign Ministry official wants early end to Berlin con-
ference (page 3).
2. Large food deliveries from Peiping scheduled for Moscow (page 3).
FAR EAST
3. Peiping presses India to concede that previous agreements on
Tibet are invalid' (page.4).
NEAR EAST.- AFRICA
4. Foreign powers allegedly implicated in Syrian crisis (Page 4).
5.
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Question of German freedom to reject EDC threatens ratification
prospects (page 5).
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GENERAL
1. French Foreign Ministry official wants early end to Berlin conference:
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman told
the American embassy in Paris on 5 February
that the principal question remaining at the
Berlin conference was how best to terminate
it. He expects the USSR to press for the establishment of expert
working groups on "Germany, the Far East, disarmament, et cetera"
which would report to a future four-power ministerial meeting.
He recommends that the West suggest that
diplomatic channels be used for the discussion of the first two topics
and that disarmament be handled in the United Nations. If progress
is made by such means, then the Foreign Ministers could meet again.
Comment: The disillusionment of the Paris
press with the Soviet position at Berlin may encourage the Foreign
Ministry to seek an early end to the conference. It is unlikely, how-
ever, that the French government will press for its termination until
satisfied that the secret discussions at Berlin offer no hope for an
acceptable solution in Indochina.
2. Large food deliveries from Peiping scheduled for Moscow:
The Peiping regime was arranging with
Moscow in December 1953 for the shipment
to the USSR of 35,000 tons of rice in January
ancL for the early completion of 1953 con-
tracts for the shipment of 57,000 tons of
ons o citrus fruit.
Comment: Communist China has been
expanding food exports to the USSR to pay for large imports of Soviet
military and industrial equipment. This increase in exports, despite
poorer than average harvests last year, contributes to current food
shortages in parts of China and may add to increasing anti-Soviet
sentiment in China.
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FAR EAST
3. Peiping presses India to concede that previous agreements on Tibet are
invalid:
basis that the
are in
Peiping's position in its current talks with
India on Tibet is that previou Indian agree-
ments with China were "unequal treaties"
and that negotiations should start on the
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Foreign powers allegedly implicated in Syrian crisis:
The king of Saudi Arabia told Ambassador
Wadsworth on 3 February that reports
from his ambassador and other sources
in. Syria Syria indicated that British and Iraqi
intrigue to achieve an Iraqi-Syrian union
was responsible for the current Syrian
crisis.
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Comment: President Shishakli has publicly
charged that his domestic problems are the result of foreign activity
and President Nagib of Egypt has supported his accusations. Charges
of British and possible Iraqi involvement are implicit in both statements.
Despite these allegations, there is no reliable
evidence that either the British or Iraqi government is directly in-
volved. Various Iraqi officials have, however, in the past actively
promoted Iraqi-Syrian union and may well be implicated in current
maneuvers.
5. �
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Question of German freedom to reject EDC threatens ratificatiTi
prospects:
The Western statement at Berlin that a
united Germany will be completely free to
reject EDC membership is "a serious blow"
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to prospects for French ratification, according to the French NATO
representative.
American officials in Paris have learned that
Brussels also fears the effect of the Western Statement on Belgian
ratification chances, and that the government has asked for a pro-
EDC statement from the big-three ministers to counteract its effect.
The Belgian NATO representative said his government was being
pressed very hard on the grounds that the EDC fails in its primary
purpose because it now appears that Germany will be the only signatory
not bound by the treaty.
The Dutch representative points out that the
treaty is ambiguous on the question, and expressed concern over the
effect of the statement on all the signatories.
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