CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/01/20

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03017658
• 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 20, 1955

Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03017658,
TOP SECRET
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
20 January 1955 E-3)
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO
NO CHANGE IN CLASS ft
H DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: JQ
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: 1 liktO REVIEWER
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Communist leader to run in Japanese election (page 3).
2. 'Taipei orders naval force north to aid Tachen defense (page 3).
SOUTH ASIA
3. Probable Indian reaction to Communist occupation of Ichiang
Island (page 4).
EASTERN EUROPE
4. Hungarian people welcome American flood relief (page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
5. USSR invites high Finnish defense officials to visit Moscow
(page 5).
6. France reported no longer pressing for permanent arms pool
(page 6).
7. British Foreign Office favors Western study group on East-West
talks (page 7).
LATIN AMERICA
8. Comment on apparent failure of Costa Rican revolt (page 7).
* * * *
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FAR EAST
1. Communist leader to run in Japanese election:
CINCFE Telecon Yoshio Shiga, third-ranking leader of
18 Jan 55 the Japan Communist Party, who has
CONFIDENTIAL been underground since June 1950, will
run for the Diet in the forthcoming elec-
tion. The Far East Command reports that the party has ordered
its previously endorsed candidate in Shiga's district to withdraw.
Shiga, who won an impressive victory
In the 1949 Diet election, apparently is running openly as part
of the Communist effort to convince the public the party is not a
clandestine conspiracy. The Far East Command notes that
Japanese security authorities are expected to keep "hands off" to
avoid Communist propaganda charges of police interference in
elections.
Comment: In 1950 Shiga was the lead-
ing advocate in Japan of a separate peace treaty with the USSR
and Communist China. He also emphasized that the Japanese
Communist struggle must concentrate its attack on American
"imperialism."
The present trend toward closer Japa-
nese relations with the Orbit would make this an opportune time
for the Communist Party's outstanding exponent of this policy to
reappear. Shiga's prominence and vote-getting ability could be
an important factor in attracting popular support to the party in
the election. Reports indicate several second-echelon underground
leaders are also planning to run for office.
2. Taipei orders naval force north to aid Tachen defense:
Two Chinese Nationalist destroyers and
three destroyer escorts left Formosa
for the Tachens area late on 18 January,
20 Jan 55
Far East time,
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Comment: This move commits five of
the remaining eight major Nation�gist vessels to the Tachens and
suggests that the Nationalist high command currently plans a
serious effort to hold at least the two principal islands of the
group.
Meanwhile, the Nationalist Defense Min-
istry conjectures that the Communists may soon renew operations
near the Quemoys, to the south; in an effort to divert Nationalist
forces from the Tachens area.
SOUTH ASIA
3. Probable Indian reaction to Communist occupation of Ichiang
Island:
The reaction of Prime Minister Nehru
and the Indian press to the forcible Chinese Communist occupa-
tion of Ichiang Island on 18 January is almost certain to be strongly
adverse, as it was when the Communists broke the peaceful post
Geneva atmosphere in early September by shelling Quemoy. Nehru's
suspicion of Peipin0 past declarations of peaceful intent will proba-
bly be strengthened by this new demonstration of military initiative.
One important result of Peiping's action,
therefore, may be to increase the likelihood that India and other
non-Communist Asian nations such as Pakistan, Ceylon, and Burma
will attempt to prevent China from seizing the initiative at the Afro
Asian conference and to put Peiping once more on public record as
having no territorial ambitions in South and Southeast Asia.
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EASTERN EUROPE
4. Hungarian people welcome American flood relief:
US Leg Budapest -3.15-' The American legation in Budapest is
11, 18 Jan 55 -134' impressed by the "overwhelming grafi-
UNCLASSIFIED tude" of Hungarian peasants for Ameri-
can flood relief. The legation reports
that the origin of this aid is widely recognized despite the fact
that the regime has published only one brief acknowledgment. One
source stated that American aid has been distributed with less
discrimination than Communist assistance, which was given out
on a political basis.
The legation comments that the willing-
ness of the peasants to express their appreciation to American
observers and to criticize the Communist regime reveals the
depth of the antagonism which exists between the peasants and
the state authorities.
Comment: The Red Cross representa=
tive in Czechoslovakia hasalso reported that a large part of the
population of the villages receiving American flood relief crowded
around the distribution centers and held brief informal meetings
to express their gratitude.
In contrast to the method of distribution
in Czechoslovakia and Hungary, where US markings appeared on
the food gifts, the East German government used the infestation
of some of the American grain as an excuse for destroying all US
marked bags and distributed the aid without crediting the United
States. The representative of the League of Red Cross Societies
reports that individual German peasants he spoke to were sur-
prised when told that the grain was an American gift.
WESTERN EUROPE
5. USSR invites high Finnish defense officials to visit Moscow:
US Emb Helsinki- V The defense minister and the commander
18 Jan 55 in chief of the Finnish defense forces have
TOP SECRET both received invitations from Soviet
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defense minister Bulganin to visit Moscow, according to the
Finnish trade and commerce minister. Contrary to rumors,
the USSR has not suggested that Finland establish a permanent
military mission in Moscow. The Finns fear, however, that
such a suggestion might result from the proposed visit.
Leaders of the Finnish Social Demo-
cratic Party, which is part of the government coalition, favor
stalling on the invitation. They feel that if some one must go,
it should be a politician rather than a military man, in order
to avoid dealing with specific military matters.
Comment: The Finns recognize that
some kind of visit will eventualryThe necessary in order to
avoid needlessly antagonizing the Soviet Union. At the same
time they will strongly resist efforts to involve them in any
Soviet-inspired "security arrangements!' Last November the
Finns successfully resisted Soviet efforts to seek their inclu-
sion in a proposed "European security organization."
�6. France reported no longer pressing for permanent arms pool:
US Emb The Hague A French delegate to the current talks
18 Jan 55 q 3
in Paris on a Western European arms
SECRET production pool has admitted that France
expects agreement only on a two-year
"probationary" period, after which the arms pool could be dropped
If nothing practical resulted, according to the secretary general
of the Dutch Foreign Ministry. .The Dutch official commented that
his ministry tended to interpret Premier Mendes-France's absence
from the talks as an indication that France is now placing less em-
phasis on the arms pool.
Comment: France's apparent willingness
to drop major elements of its original proposal so early in the
arms pool talks, which began on 17 January, may be an indica-
tion Mendes-France believes he has impressed sufficiently on
the French parliament his efforts to control German rearmament
by this method. It is unlikely, however, that France has given up
all hope of stronger controls over West Germany; Paris may con-
tinue insisting that American military aid to all the Western Euro-
pean Union countries should be distributed through the WEU.
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7. British Foreign Office favors Western study group on East-West
talks:
US Emb London - it�, Although Prime Minister Churchill is
18 Jan 55 61;5 strongly opposed to the establishment of
SECRET �a Western group to study the question of
*iCtjt- talks with the Soviet Union, the British
Foreign Office is now recommending that he and Foreign Secre-
tary Eden give sympathetic consideration to Chancellor Adenauer's
proposal for such a group in which West Germany would partici-
pate.
Eden told the French ambassador in
London on 14 January that "action among ourselves" to show a de-
sire for talks with the USSR would be better than an approach to
Moscow.
Comment: The Foreign Office advocated
a study group last week primarily to offer Premier Mendes-France
a way out of his dilemma about further demarches to Moscow. The
premier felt it necessary to make a unilateral demarche if Britain
and the United States refused to join him. That London is espe-
cially solicitous of Adena,uer is shown by the fact that Britain is
willing, should the German internal situation require it, to con-
sider allowing the Bundestag to ratify the Paris agreements with
a condition that agreement with the USSR on reunification be
sought again.
In addition to these tactical considera-
tions, the Foreign Office may regard a working group as a sound-
ing board for their own and other Western views about four-power
talks. It may believe that existence of such a group would also
tend to discourage approaches for talks which might be untimely,
uncoordinated, and unproductive.
LATIN AMERICA
8. Comment on apparent failure of Costa Rican revolt:
The revolt in Costa Rica appears to be
failing. The estimated 500 rebels still
in the extreme northwest of the country
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US Emb Managua
18 Jan 55
UNCLASSIFIED
near the Nicaraguan border are opposed
by about 12300 government troops and
volunteers in the area.,
Nicaraguan president Somoza implied to
the investigating committee of the Organ-
ization of American States on 18 January
that the conflict would gradually "peter
out" because of the air superiority enjoyed by government forces.
Nevertheless, plots and counterplots
involving Costa Rica and Nicaragua are likely to continue. The
Nicaraguan and Venezuelan governments, which are known
to have sponsored the Costa Rican revolt,
are expected to continue their efforts to eliminate Costa Rican
president Figueres. Meanwhile, Somoza himself is threatened
by die-hard members of the opposition party in Nicaragua who
are reportedly planning an attempt against him and who may seek
the aid of Figueres.
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