CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/03/17

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03004630
• 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 17, 1955

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17 March 1955
Copy No, 88
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. 5 0
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CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE. 56I Q _
ALP H: HR 70-2
DATE: g "TaTift go FIEVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Soviet Foreign Ministry official states USSR Would conclude
Austrian treaty after Paris agreements ratified (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Soviet pilots reported operating in South China (page 3
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. Viet Minh diplomat complains informally of entry of Chinese
Nationalists into Laos (page 4).
4. Laotian action against Communists discouraged by British
(page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. France continues to temporize on Turkish-Iraqi pact (page 6).
6.
* * * *
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GENERAL
1. Soviet Foreign Ministry official states USSR would conclude
Austrian treaty after Paris agreements ratified:
V. S. Semenov, who is in charge of
Austrian and German affairs in the
Soviet Foreign Ministry, told the Swedish
minister in Moscow in early March that
'the USSR would be prepared to conclude an Austrian treaty even if
the Paris agreements were ratified. He stated further that the
Soviet Union recognizes that the Austrian question is separate from
that of Germany.
Comment: Semenov's statement is a.
departure from a long-established Soviet position that the Austrian
question cannot be settled after ratification of the Paris accords
and cannot be considered apart from the German problem because
the rearmament of West Germany will intensify the danger of an
Anschluss. Although Soviet propaganda continues to insist on a
conference on Austria prior to ratification, Molotov did not men-
tion this condition to the Austrian ambassador in their recent talks.
Moscow may believe that the Austrians
must be assured of the continuing possibility of a peace treaty to
prevent the integration of Austria into Western defense plans, and
may have used this indirect means to accomplish this end. Austria
sent a note to the USSR on 14 March seeking further clarification of
Molotov's proposals.
FAR EAST
2. Soviet pilots reported operating in South China:
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the Russians may be advisers attached to Chinese jet
fighter units based at Canton. Soviet advisers were once as-
signed to nearly all Chinese air units,but since the end of 1953
references to them have been rare.
The current activity may be related
to Soviet assistance in helping Chinese units at Canton to make
the transition from MIG-15's to the more advanced MIG-17 jet
fighter.
Comment: There has been some indi-
cation in recent months that the Chinese Communists are being
supplied with MIG-17's, which would be a better match for the
American F-86 than is the MIG-15.
A fighter build-up at Canton would be
of little danger to the offshore islands and Formosa, since Canton
lies at or beyond the maximum range of jet fighters.
Such a build-up would fit the pattern of
Peiping's continuing interest in improving defenses along its south-
ern coast. Jet fighter strength in South China has been increased
recently, additional radar sites have been installed, and the navy
has become more active in patrol missions between Hainan Island
and Canton.
3. Viet Minh
Nationa
SOUTHEAST ASIA
complains informally of entry of Chinese
os:
The Burmese charg�eplied: according
to his report to Rangoon, that the Chinese in Laos might be new
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Comment: The Viet Minh
alleged that 3,000 Chinese Nationalists from Burma bad
entered northern Laos "under American instruction." Peiping
subsequently repeated this line and accused the United States of
furnishing supplies and transportation for these forces.
Burmese forces are at present engaged
in an offensive against the Chinese Nationalist guerrillas in the
southern Shan States, but the War Office in Rangoon does not be-
lieve there has been any movement of Nationalists into Laos.
4. Laotian action against Communists discouraged by British:
British and French officials have been
working to counteract American assur-
ances to Laotian officials that, in view
of the Manila pact, the Laotian govern-
ent mignt proceea against the Communist-backed Pathet Lao
without serious risk of overt external attack, the American minis-
ter in Vientiane reports.
British minister Talbot stated that he had
been instructed to oppose the use of force by the Laotian govern-
ment, in the belief that such action might provoke a Viet Minh
invasion.
French representative Dufour, while
not opposed "in principle" to the eventual use of force, doubts
that the Laotians have the capability, without French military di-
rection, to carry out such an operation.
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Comment: British and French overtures
probably account for the Laotian government's agreement to a
cease-fire with the Pathet Lao and its decision to continue talks
in Vientiane..
The American army attach�n Vientiane
believes royal forces have this capability, but only if the French
direct the campaign and if the Pathet Lao is not reinforced by
Viet Minh units.
NEAR EAST -AFRICA
5. France continues to temporize on Turkish-Iraqi pact:
The French ambassador in Damascus
old American ambassador Moose on
14 March that he had received "nothing
new" from Paris on the Turkish-Iraqi
treaty and that his position continues
o be one of "no opposition" to the pact.
The French embassy in Washington
recently officially informed the State Department that the pri-
mary French objective in the Near East is to help establish the
best possible organization for defense against Soviet aggression.
The American embassy in Damascus, however, has observed
nothing to indicate that the French in Syria are operating under
such instructions. The embassy notes the semiofficial French
press agency continues to reflect opposition to the Turkish-Iraqi
pact.
Comment: France has stated it is
opposed to the current tendency to align itself with Egypt
and Saudi Arabia, but Paris is still a long way from pressing Syria
to join the Turkish-Iraqi pact.
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Turkey has told France in strong terms that tne negative irench
attitude toward the Turkish-Iraqi pact is responsible for the
serious situation in Syria and is damaging Turkish-French rela-
tions. Ankara is especially concerned that Syria, with which it
has a long common border, will refuse to join the pact and may
follow a hostile policy toward Turkey.
6.
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