CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/08/15

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03000929
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: August 15, 1954

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
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DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
ri DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 1010
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: I ra.to REVIEWER
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
for Release 2019/08/13
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SUMMARY
SOUTHEAST ASIA
1. Impending coup against Vietnamese premier reported (page 3).
2. Laotian prince bitter over French "sellout" (page 4).
WESTERN EUROPE
3. Austrian chancellor reacts favorably to Soviet offer of treaty talks
(page 4).
4. American ambassador fears consequence if US favors UN discussion
on Dutch New Guinea (page 5).
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
1. Impending coup against Vietnamese premier reported:
The American army attach�n Saigon
notes numerous rumors of plots to oust
Premier Ngo Dinh Diem and points out
that they have gained wider currency since
the report of Bao Dai's plan to return. The
Vietnamese army chief of staff, who is
identified with French interests, and the
Binh Xuyen organization, which controls
the police, are identified among the
plotters.
Meanwhile Jacques Raphael-Leygues, a
s,pecial French emissary, recently arrived in Saigon and told
Ambassador Heath on 13 August that the Binh Xuyen was about to
depose Diem, and asked Heath to warn Diem of this danger. He
urged that it be made clear that neither France nor the United States
would support a government that came to power by the forcible over-
throw of Diem.
Raphael- Leygues position was that a
stronger cabinet should be formed, headed by or at least including
Diem. He strongly opposed the return of Bao Dai.
Comment: French authorities in both
Saigon and Paris have sought to discredit Diem by heavy and fre-
quent emphasis on his ineptitude and in at least one instance advised
his replacement by a junta of unpopular Cochinchina politicians.
Raphael-Leygues' remarks may indicate
that French policy has shifted to one of undercutting Diem by
"broadening" his government to include these French favorites
and by encouraging discotd between Diem and the Bao Dai-sponsored
Binh Xuyen police force. Such discord would neutralize Bao Dal's
13 August announcement of his full support of the Diem government.
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2. Laotian prince bitter over French "sellout":
The crown prince of Laos, a spokesman
for the king, told the American charge
in Vientiane on 13 August that Laos had
been sold out by France at Geneva. If
aos were una e s c unt on its "former friends," he said, "it
would be necessary to turn elsewhere, even to China."
The charg�omments that the prince is
apparently trying to enlist American aid "against France."
Comment The creation of the two
assembly areas for the Pathet Lao forces in Phong Saly and
Sam Neua constitute a de facto partition of Laos.
The chief French representative in Laos
has made plain French resistence to the extension of American
influence in Laos.
WESTERN EUROPE
3. Austrian chancellor reacts favorably to Soviet offer of treaty talks:
Austrian chancellor Raab, Upon being in-
formed of the 12 August Soviet note offer-
ing new negotiations on the Austrian treaty,
exclaimed, "This is better than we expected."
g Austrian Foreign Ministry official has told American represen-
tatives of his belief that the Soviet note makes it inopportune to place
the Austrian question on the agenda of the forthcoming UN General
Assembly session.
The American embassy believes the Austrians
will be most reluctant to reject out of hand any Soviet offer of negotia-
tions as long as Moscow's treaty terms are not "transparently unaccept-
able."
Comment Moscow's demand for indefinite
occupation after a treaty is concluded, which is unacceptable to
Vienna, is not repeated in the note, but it is not believed that the USSR
has dropped this point.
15 Aug 54
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New
The Soviet note, in reply to the 22 July
Austrian-proposed conference of ambassadors on the alleviation
of occupation burdens, proposes instead a conference of ambassadors
on an Austrian treaty.
British and French officials are likely to
conclude that the Soviet suggestion will not lead to any settlement
on the Austrian state treaty. Nevertheless, if Raab insists that a
conference be convened as the Soviet Union proposes, it may be
difficult for the Allies to avoid the conference.
American ambassador fears consequence if US favors UN discussion
on Dutch New Guinea:
Following a talk on 12 August with Foreign
Minister Luns, Ambassador Matthews in
The Hague warned that American support
of any UN discussion of Dutch New Guinea's
status "would bring American-Dutch relations to the lowest ebb in
history." It would add to existing bitterness in the Netherlands over
the recent "unexpected" American decision not to support the Dutch
candidate for the presidency of the forthcoming UN General Assembly.
Comment: Despite the unusually, strong
language of Dutch officials in their protests to the United States, press
reactions appear less violent. The Dutch government, furthermore,
has not permitted this situation to influence its action in such matters
as the air base agreement successfully concluded with the United
States last week.
The American embassy in Djakarta has
reported that the Indonesian cabinet has approved a draft resolution
that was deliberately made as mild as possible in the hope that it
might win American support. It will ask only that the two parties
to the New Guinea dispute discuss the matter.
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