CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/02/24

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03012509
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: February 24, 1955

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24 February 1955 3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
C03012509
Copy No, 8 8
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
[.1 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S 0
NEXT REVIEW DATE. P- 0 10
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: B TA. TO REVIEWER
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
10 Plans for Soviet industrial fair :in Buenos Aires reported (page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2. Saburov fails to appear with other party presidium members (page 3),
FAR EAST
3. Comment on growing Chinese Communist air threat to Nanchishan
�(page 4).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Burma attempting to extend control in area claimed by China (page 6).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
50 Charles Malik sees Iraqi-Turkish pact opening "new era" in
Middle East (page
LATE ITEM
6. Chinese Nationalist infantry regiment withdrawing from Nanchishan
(page 9).
24 Feb 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 2
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GENERAL
1, Plans for Soviet industrial fair in Buenos Aires reported:
Sources close to the Soviet embassy in
Buenos Aires report that plans are un-
der way for a large Soviet industrial
exposition n Buenos Aires in April, according to an Argentine
broadcast, The USSR expects to display a wide variety of in-
dustrial products. Several shipments of machinery have already
arrived.
Comment
the Soviet, pavilion from the 1954 Izmir
International Trade Fair had been crated for shipment to Buenos
Aires.
If this exposition takes place it will be
the first Soviet fair in the western hemisphere since World War II,
and may presage an intensification of Soviet trade activities in
Latin America.
The fair would be a follow-up of the
USSR's offers, made at the UN last April and repeated later, to
sell essential imports to dollar-short Latin American countries
on credit terms, with payment in local currencies.
The USSR resumed commercial rela-
tions with Latin America in August 1953. By June 1954 total trade
with Argentipa had reached $7825682000, and with Uruguay, $16,020,000.
Only $7980,, Or of this represented Soviet exports, all of which were
to Argentina.
SOVIET UNION
2. Saburov fails to appear with other party presidium members:
The chairman of the Soviet State Planning
Committee, M. Z. Saburov, was the only
member of the party presidium who failed
24 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 3
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sore
to attend a 21 February concert given by
Belorussian artists. The "sudden" invi-
tation to Western ambassadors to attend
suggested to one diplomat that they had been invited in order to see
who was present. Saburov last appeared with the other presidium
members at a similar Belorussian festival on 11 February. He was
absent from a 14 February reception at the Chinese embassy, as
were Voroshilov and Khrushchev, who was in the Ukraine.
Saburov's absence on such occasions is
not unprecedented and could be due to illness or absence from
Moscow, However, similar absences were the first sign of Beria's
and Bagirov's removal from the presidium in June 1953.
Saburov has long been associated with the
economic planning apparatus, which has come under severe criti-
cism from Khrushchev and other SoViet figures in the past year,
and his career suggests that he owed much of his success to Malen-
kov's patronage. Should Saburov be removed from the presidium,
It would be striking evidence of the seriousness of the personal and
policy differences within that body.
FAR EAST
3. Comment on growing Chinese Communist air threat to Nanchishan:
he Chinese Communists are apparently
reparing to increase the scale of their
ir attacks on Nanchishan Island, which
as bombed and strafed for the first time
by t ee LA-11 piston fighters on 22 February (see map, p. 5).
The Nationalist Defense Ministry reports
that "nine formations" of Communist planes, believed to be MIG-15's,
moved on 21 February from Nanchang in Kiangsi Province to
Chuhsien, a new jet base 150 miles northwest of Nanchishan. The
number/of planes involved in the move is believed Ito be between 35
and 50. At Chuhsien, these jet fighters would be within easy range
of Nanchishan.
24 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 4
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NANCHANG
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PRESENTATIONS DIVISION
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Airfield Construction or Improvements
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24 FEBRUARY 1955
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the
Communists have begun to surface the runways at Luchiao air-
field, on the coast west of the Tachens. When this field is com-
pleted, possibly in the next few weeks, the Communists will have
a new jet base only 75 miles from Nanchishan and 150 miles from
the Matsus. With aircraft at Chuhsien and Luchiao, the Commu-
nists would be able to dominate Nanchishan by air just as they did
the Tachens.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Burma attempting to extend control in area claimed by China:
Comment:
The Burmese government is proceeding
with its policy of seeking to bring peripheral areas under firmer
control, particularly in the Wa States, where the boundary is also
In dispute. This unilateral action could seriously test the harmon-
ious relationship resulting from Chou En-lai's and U Nu's exchange
of visits.
24 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 6
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NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Charles Malik sees Iraqi-TAirkish pact opening "new era" in
Middle East:
Iraq's struggle in the Arab League
over its pact with Turkey marks the
beginning of a "new era," according
to Charles Malik, Lebanese ambas-
sador to the United States.
He cites as indications the "toppling"
of the political and military influence of the league, widespread
dissension among the Arab states, and the appearance of Turkey--
supported by the United States--as a potent factor in directing
the future of the Middle East.
Malik, in advising Beirut that Lebanon
has reached a decisive turning point in its modern history,
recommended developing the strongest mutual understanding
with Iraq, Syria and Jordan in order to meet Egyptian reprisals
for Iraq's victory in the Arab League.
Comment: Iraq has embarked on a
course entailing closer Arab integration with the West. This is
forcing other Arab states to 'decide whether to align themselves
with Baghdad or cling to Egypt, the Arab League and neutralism.
Malik's recommendation for closer rela-
tions with Iraq, Syria and Jordan�in the face of Egyptian and
Saudi opposition--is at variance with Lebanon's traditional policy
of neutrality in intra-Arab quarrels.
Malik's advice is not likely to be fol-
lowed by immediate action. However, a pro-Iraqi, pro-Western
trend has been developing among some prominent political leaders
in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan as a result of the recent Arab League
struggle.
24 Feb 55
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LATE ITEM
6, Chinese Nationalist infantry regiment withdrawing from Nanchishan:
MAAG officials in Formosa report that
the 2,800 Chinese Nationalist regular
troops on Nanchishan were to begin with-
drawing to Formosa on the afternoon of
24 February (0400, 24 February, Washington time). Two LST's
and an LSM were to be used to transport the troops, They were to
be escorted by a destroyer, four destroyer-escorts, and six other
vessels. The Nationalist air force was to provide air cover for
the operation, which is expected to be completed in 13 hours.
Comment: With Nationalist air and naval
forces engaging in operations c] to the China mainland, it is
possible that the Communists will attempt to interfere during the
withdrawal.
Following the evacuation of the Tachens,
the Nationalists were rumored planning to withdraw all regulars
from Nanchishan, and to increase the guerrilla garrison from about
700 to 5,000 or 6,000, using guerrilla troops evacuated from the
Tachens.
24 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 9
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