CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/03/11

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03003279
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: March 11, 1955

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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
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3.3(h)(2)
11 March 1955 3.5(c)
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS IA
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS CHANGED TO: IS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: '1.� PO
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE. 7), MY.- 50 REVIEWER:
Copy No.
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. USSR hints at Asian pressure to force American withdrawal from
China area (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Chinese Communist leaders' comment on nuclear weapons
reported (page 3).
3.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Bangkok conference (page 4)0
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Britain and Iraq hope to conclude new defense arrangements by
2 May (page 5).
5. Syrian president considers asking Iraq to send troops to Damascus
(page 6).
LATIN AMERICA
6, Political crisis seen in Chile (page 6).
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GENERAL
1. USSR hints at Asian pressure to force American withdrawal from
China area:
Comment: Yudin's remarks suggest a
Communist effort next month to maneuver the Afro-Asian confer-
ence into endorsing a call for withdrawal of the Seventh Fleet.
Soviet propaganda has supported the Chinese Communist position
that a Formosa settlement can be achieved only on the basis of a
withdrawal of all American forces from the China area.
Both Soviet and Chinese Communist
spokesmen have thus far rejected the idea of having Nationalist
China participate in any conference, on the grounds that this
would compromise Peiping's claim to being the sole legitimate
government of China.
FAR EAST
2. Chinese Communist leaders' comment on nuclear weapons reported:
11 Mar 55
Mao Tse-tung and Chou En-la,i have both
expressed confidence in the Orbit's capa-
bilities for retaliation and survival in the
event that nuclear_weanons are used against
China,
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Mao said publicly, on the 14 February anniversary
of the Sino-Soviet treaty, that if the "imperialists start a war of
aggression, we, together with the people of the whole world, will
certainly wipe them from the face of the earth." This statement
was interpreted by some observers as implying confidence in Soviet
retaliation against the United States.
Peiping's current propaganda on nuclear
weapons has been greatly expanded in recent weeks. It expresses
the view that a predominantly agrarian country like China would be
less vulnerable to such weapons than would the United States and
United Kingdom. At the same time Peiping has indicated some ap-
prehension, and its line has apparently been designed in large part
to mobilize international pressure to deter the United States from
using nuclear weapons,
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Bangkok conference:
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Comment: Dejean's reported pessi-
mism reflects to some extent the general feeling among the
French delegation to the Bangkok conference. France has been
convinced for some time that the Manila pact would not be suf-
ficient to protect South Vietnam, and the French delegation ap-
parently was largely concerned with being sure the conference
did not openly conflict with the Geneva settlement.
The other countries represented at
Bangkok have been generally content with the results of the
meeting there.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Britain and Iraq hope to conclude new defense arrangements by
Britain is making every effort to meet
Iraq's target date of 2 May for the termi-
nation of the present Anglo-Iraqi treaty
and the completion of new defense ar-
rangemen s, accorcang to the Foreign Office.
Iraqi's premier Nun i Said has proposed
that the new arrangements provide for joint training of military
forces, reciprocal staging rights, British technicians at Iraqi
airfields, and flying of the Iraqi flag over the fields. He has
suggested that these arrangements be effected by British acces-
sion to the Turkish-Iraqi pact, signature of a brief new agree-
ment containing nothing which might antagonize extreme national-
ists in Iraq, and an exchange of secret notes containing those
provisions most likely to disturb the nationalists.
Comment: The new arrangements will
probably also include a provisioriTor stationing British planes at
Iraqi airfields. Currently Britain has three fighter squadrons and
a photo reconnaissance squadron at two fields in Iraq.
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5. Syrian president considers asking Iraq to send troops to Damascus:
Syrian president Atasi appears prepared
to ask Iraq to send troops to Damascus in
order to frustrate the establishment of
Egyptian military control over Syria, ac-
cording to Ambassador Moose.
Atasi told Moose on 7 March that under
the military arrangements now being discussed by Defense Minis-
ter Azm with Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Egyptian troops might be
stationed in Syria, ostensibly to protect, but in reality to control,
the country. Atasi declared that if the time has come for Syria
to align itself with another country, that country should be Iraq
bec*use of their common boundary, common cultural backgrounds
and complementary economies.
The president's son, stressing his father's
preference for Iraqi over Egyptian troops in Syria, said that their
entrance into the country, while hard to defend legally, could be
regularized after the fact.
Comment: The Syrian conservatives, led
by Atasi, are desperately lookinefor a means to overthrow the
leftist government of Premier Asali in order to regain power.
A move to bring Iraqi troops into Syria
would have serious repercussions in the Near East. None of the
other Arab states is in a position to counter such a move with ef-
fective military force. Israel is bitterly opposed to an Iraqi-Syrian
union, but would hesitate to resort to war over it.
LATIN AMERICA
6. Political crisis seen in Chile:
Chilean president Ibanez' sudden return
from vacation to the capital on 9 March
leads the American embassy in Santiago
to believe that a political crisis has arisen.
On 5 March Ibanez had commented "in anger" on the increasingly
vehement public attacks against him, and he has undoubtedly re-
turned to Santiago "in an angry mood."
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A close friend of the president, former
interior minister Olavarria, asked American ambassador Beaulac
on 8 March how the United States would regard a "government of
force."
Comment: The chronic instability in
Chile since Ibanez' inauguration in November 1952 has given rise
to frequent reports that he would assume dictatorial control of
the country. Ibanez himself stated last year that if Congress did
not grant his request for special powers, he might dissolve it and
rule by decree. He did not carry out this threat, however, and
is believed still reluctant to abandon constitutional procedures.
My "government of force" would almost
certainly require army support, which in the early stages would
probably be forthcoming. The current commander in chief of the
army, General Enrique Franco Hidalgo, has not shown any per-
sonal political ambition, but is popular within Chile and is friendly
to the United States.
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