CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/11/09

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03017647
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: November 9, 1954

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9 November 1954
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO 12
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
CI DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS $ C
NEXT REVIEW DATE. 2n/ 0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: 7/1/(130 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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SUMMARY
SOVIET UNION
FAR EAST
2.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. Polish contingent on Indochina control commission still growing
(page 6).
4. France reported about to press for Diem's removal (page 7),
5. Comment on Ho Chi Minh statement on French-Viet Minh rela-
tions (page 8)0
6. "Thai libsration committee" reported established in Laos (page 8).
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Comment on transfer of joint Soviet-Hungarian companies (page 9).
LATIN AMERICA
8.
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SOVIET UNION
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FAR EAST
2,
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3, Polish contingent on Indochina control commission still growing:
The recent arrival of eight Polish truce
officials has brought the total Polish dele-
gation in Phnom �Penh to 62 persons, the
American embassy reports. The Cambo-
dian government is concerned over this
increase in the size of the International
Control Commission, whose expenses it
must defray. Indian and Canadian mem-
bers of the commission favor a reduction in personnel,
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Meanwhile, a Canadian truce official in
Hanoi has informed the American consul that 40 Polish technicians
arrived there recently. These persons are not truce officials and
will presumably be employed by the Viet Minh government.
Comment: The Polish delegation in
Cambodia has taken the position that its most important work
"Is just beginning." The Cambodian government takes the con-
trary view that with Viet Minh forces now withdrawn the work of
the truce commission has ended. The Polish contingent in Cam-
bodia is more than double the size of the Canadian.
4. France reported about to press for Diem's removal:
The French government is considering
putting pressure on Bao Dal to return
to Vietnam, remove Premier Diem,
and take over the government himself
prior to turning it over to Buu Hoi or Buu Loc,
as quoted by
Vo Lang, spokesman for Diem's special emissary in France.
Vo Lang told Ambassador Dillon on
6 November that he did not believe Bao Dai would return to Viet-
nam. He added, however, France will
press for Diem's replacement by Buu Hoi before Mendes-France's
departure for Washington.
Comment: The American embassy in
Paris is concerned over the growing French support for Buu Hoi,
who has not been in Vietnam for some time and is believed to have
neutralist tendencies. The progovernment weekly L'Express is
conducting a campaign on his behalf, and he is strongly backed by
the premier's personal advisers as well as by the minister for the
Associated States.
Mendes-France is scheduled to leave
Paris for Canada and the United States on 13 November. His fail-
ure to curb the machinations of Buu Hoi supporters lends weight
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�to reports that Paris is considering a change in its official policy
of support for Diem.
5. Comment on Ho Chi Minh statement on French-Viet Minh rela-
tions:
Ilo Chi Minh's statement on 8 November
that the Sainteny mission in Hanoi "could
contribute to the re-establishment of
er,r_fident relations between the two countries" is in conformity
with the Viet Minh policy of stressing peaceful coexistence with
France. Ho hinted that Frenchmen would be welcomed in Hanoi
to contribute to the economic development of the country. He
also adverted to the Viet Minh theme developed at the Geneva
conference that the eventual participation of the Viet Minh within
the French Union might be discussed.
The Viet Minh tactic appears to be to
provide ammunition to those official and unofficial circles in
France which favor doing business with the Viet Minh and perhaps
even completely writing off non-Communist Vietnam. The strength
of these French elements is indicated by the considerable support
which Prince Buu Hoi has received from high French officials.
Despite this ostensibly conciliatory Viet
Minh policy toward the French, concrete concessions to French
interests in Tonkin have so far been of a minor nature.
6. "Thai liberation committee" reported established in Laos:
controlled territory in northern Laos. The committee is said
to be headed by Tiang Sirikhan, a Thai politician who dropped from
sight in late 1952 and who was a close associate of Pridi Phanomyong.
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Comment: Viet Minh sponsorship of
"free Thai" activities in Laos would appear to be a logical devel-
opment, since northeastern Thailand is highly vulnerable to Com-
munist penetration. It has a long frontier with Laos, its people
are closely related to the Laotians, and Bangkok's neglect of the
area's welfare has stimulated widespread resentment against the
central government.
Tiang Sirikhan is generally believed to
have been killed by the Thai police, but confirmation of his death
Is lacking. Prior to his disappearance, he was an antigovernment
politician from the northeast, where he commanded a large popular
ioidowing. Pridi Phanomyong, forme
by Peiping in July 1954 as its puppet.
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Comment on transfer of joint Soviet-Hungarian companies:
Moscow's announcement on 8 November
of the transfer to Hungary of all five
joint Soviet-Hungarian enterprises, in-
cluding the important aluminum-bauxite company, and the Soviet-
owned trade-industrial bank apparently marks completion of the
Soviet program of withdrawal from direct operational control of
numerous sectors of the Satellite economies. The only companies
in which the USSR retains a direct interest are the uranium min-
ing companies in several Satellites, the joint petroleum company
in Rumania, and the joint nonferrous mining company in Bulgaria.
Hungary must repay the value of the
Soviet share of the joint companies and the value of the trade-
industrial bank "over a period of several years on preferential
conditions." This obligation may place an additional burden on
the Hungarian economy, already suffering from the failure of the
new course program.
The Soviet withdrawals from the joint
companies appear to result from a general Soviet policy designed
to stress the economic and political independence of the individual
countries of the Orbit. The return of these companies, however,
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will not result in a weakening of Soviet control of the Satellite
economies, which will continue to be exercised through high-level
government advisers and party leaders.
LATIN AMERICA
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