CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/01/02

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03010824
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: January 2, 1955

2 January
1955 3.5(c)
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. .-5":5�
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
Li DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: ?CYO
HR 70-2
A E (51/4 /30 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Communist China is first country to establish regular air
service into the USSR (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Japan consulting US regarding attendance at Afro-Asian Con-
ference (page 5).
3. Comment on intensification of Peiping's propaganda to Japan
(page 5).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. French offer to construct Cambodian seaport (page 6).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Israel proposes compromise on disposal of ship seized by Egypt
(page 7).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Paris accords may be delayed in French upper house (page 8).
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GENERAL
1. Communist China is first country to establish regular air service
Into the USSR:
The Sino-Soviet air service agreement
signed in Peiping on 30 December pro-
vides for the establishment of air serv-
ice by both Chinese and Soviet civil
planes from Peiping to Moscow, Alma
Ata and Chita, according to the official
New China News Agency.
Comment: This will be the first foreign
scheduled air service into Soviet territory. Until 1 January, serv-
ice between the Chinese capital and the USSR was a monopoly of
SKOGA, the Sino-Soviet joint stock airline which has been turned
over to the Chinese. In the past, this airline was virtually con-
trolled and operated by the Soviet Union.
Other new flight schedules announced at the
same time double the mileage flown per week south of Peiping. They
indicate that the Chinese airline is using some of its newly acquired
�SKOGA aircraft and equipment to expand domestic operations in
southern areas of China.
A Soviet speaker at the signing ceremony
In Peiping on 30 December said that Chinese airliners would
"shortly" be flying to "capitals of various neighboring countries."
This may refer to Chinese plans to initiate air service to South
Asian countries, as Ulan Bator in Mongolia is the only neighbor-
ing capital to which Chinese planes now fly.
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F,AR EAST
2. Japan consulting US regarding attendance at Afro-Asian Conference:
3.
Japan intends to consult closely with the
United States on whether to accept an
invitation to attend the conference of
African and Asian countries scheduled
for next April. This statement was made to Ambassador Allison
by Foreign Minister Shigemitsu's top adviser who said that the
Japanese did not wish to be coupled with Communist China in the
invitation.
Allison states that this is the first imple-
mentation of Shigemitsu's promise that the Hatoyama government
would consult the United States before it took any measures which
might involve a relationship with Peiping.
Comment: In trade matters, the Hato-
yama government has assumed a more independent attitude than
its predecessor, making its own decisions without reference to
American views. Since the proposed conference appears to be
primarily political in nature, however, the Japanese apparently
wish to cooperate more closely with the United States on political
matters than was suspected at the time of the formation of the
new government.
Comment on intensification of .Peiping's propaganda to Japan:
A Chinese Communist effort to influence
forthcoming Japanese elections is indi-
cated in a Peiping People's Daily edito-
rial of 30 December on the subject of normalizing relations between
Peiping and Tokyo. The Chinese Communist Party newspaper
praised the position of the two Japanese Socialist parties in call-
ing for the restoration of diplomatic relations and expansion of
trade with the USSR and Communist China.
The strategy of the Communists, both
international and domestic, appears to be to aid the Socialists in
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the elections as a step toward the eventual establishment of a
Socialist government, dominated by strong neutralists and Com-
munist sympathizers.
In addition to the recent Orbit overtures
for diplomatic relations, the Chinese
Communists have contributed financial support to the Japanese
Socialists and have instructed the Japan Communist Party to sup-
port candidates of other parties when those candidates seemed
amenable to the Communist line and were likely to win.
The editorial went beyond earlier state-
ments by Peiping in attacking the charge that Japan must sever
relations with the United States if it wants to resume normal
relations with Communist China and the Soviet Union,
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. French offer to construct Cambodian seaport:
The French charge in Phnom Penh has
told the Cambodian foreign minister that
"France will give Cambodia a port on
the Gulf of Siam within a year and a
half." This statement was made after a conversation between
the French charg�nd Ambassador McClintock, during which
McClintock disagreed with the charg� contention that construc-
tion of such a port would require at least two years, and stated
that the political situation in Vietnam required its completion
within one year or at most 18 months.
A Cambodian official has observed to
McClintock that all the Cambodians need do when they want cer-
tain. aid is to hint to the French that the United States has already
promised it to them.
Comment: The Cambodians' longstand-
ing desire for a seaport d"iirses principally from their fear of
being dependent on the Vietnamese-controlled port of Saigon, now
their only satisfactory outlet. This fear has increased since the
Geneva agreement.
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A satisfactory site for a port has been
located near the town of Ream. The principal obstacle to its
development is the lack of communications with the main produc-
ing centers in the interior. The American aid mission believes
this obstacle can be overcome, and has attempted to meet the
problem through joint French-American action.
Ambassador. McClintock has speculated,
however, that the French aim may merely be to frustrate Ameri-
can efforts and thus serve to perpetuate French influence in Cam-
bodia.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Israel proposes compromise on disposal of ship seized by Egypt:
Israeli UN delegate Kidron told the
American delegation on 30 December
that Israel would withdraw the question
of the Israeli ship Bat Galim, to be con-
sidered at the UN Security Council meet-
ing scheduled for 4 January, if Egypt would turn the ship over to
its original crew at some point north of the Suez Canal.
Kidron also stated that Egypt's present
intentions regarding release of the ship and crew were completely
unacceptable to Lsrael. If Cairo carried out such plans, he said,
Israel would continue to harry Egypt in the Security Council.
Comment: Israel has previously in-
sisted on the release of their-itaE-Gla.im, crew and cargo as a unit
to proceed through the canal.
Egypt has remained adamant in its refusal
to permit the ship to pass through the canal on any pretext, and it
is, accordingly, unlikely that Cairo will accept this latest Israeli
compromise.
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WESTERN EUROPE
6. Paris accords may be delayed in French upper house:
Mounting public hostility in France to
German rearmament could result in a
delay or an adverse vote on the Paris
accords in the French Council of the
Republic, unless Premier Mendes-France urges the council to
start the ratification procedure as soon as possible
Comment: The Council of the Republic
has on occasion delayed legislation by rejecting assembly meas-
ures. However, a favorable vote on the Paris accords is ex-
pected on first reading within the two-month period provided by
the constitution. Earlier action is within the competence of the
council but is not considered likely.
The council could constitutionally delay
action until late May, but cannot prevent eventual ratification of
the accords. An adverse vote would, however, reopen the entire
question of German rearmament in the National Assembly.
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