CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/01/29

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03157468
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: January 29, 1955

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29 January 1955
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. I I
NO CHANGE IN CLASS A
El DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE _.2.0 1.0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: t
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
frA
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
L Nehru sees room for "private" negotiations on Formosa
question (page 3).
SOVIET UNION
2. Comment on significance of coming Supreme Soviet session
(page 4)0
PAR EAST
3. Chou En-lai seen willing to release American airmen to
relatives (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4.
WESTERN EUROPE
5. Soustelle appointment may weaken Mendes-France government
(page 6).
* * * *
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Note
'Nee
GENERAL
1. Nehru sees room for "private" negotiations on Formosa question:
Comment: Nehru's attitude indicates that
he feels the Formosa issue can Fe�resolved by discussion and that
he is willing to undertake an intermediary role such as he assumed
on the Korea and Indochina problems. According to press reports,
Nehru received a full briefing from Chinese Communist diplomats
in New Delhi just before he left for London on 28 January.
Peiping might not reject an effort by the
United Nations or an Asian state or states to find a settlement.
The most recent Chinese Communist comment on the possibility
of UN action hinted at a willingness at least to discuss it, and
Peiping's past diplomatic successes with Asian leaders might lead
it to believe that an Asian body would work to the Communists'
advantage.
29 Jan 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page $
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SOVIET UNION
2. Comment on significance of coming Supreme Soviet session:
The meeting of the Supreme Soviet of
the USSR scheduled for 3 February is
likely to have more than ordinary signifi-
cance. The delegates were summoned on
extraordinarily short notice and the session will be held about a
month earlier than usual. Speculation that the Supreme Soviet will
hear important policy statements previously approved by a meet-
ing of the party's all-Union central committee is strengthened by
the recall to Moscow at this time of three Soviet ambassadors who
are members of this committee.
Perhaps most significant is the timing of
the meeting with regard to major policy questions. The relative
priority of heavy versus light industry has just been restated with
strong emphasis on heavy industry, and the prospect of French
and West German ratification of the Paris agreements is presuma-
bly causing serious concern. Soviet leaders, therefore, will proba -
bly use the session as a forum for major speeches clarifying present
policy. Their presence and activities may also provide clarifica-
tion of the current leadership situation.
Since the Supreme Soviet session was an-
nounced as a "regular" session, it will probably consider the all-
Union budget for 1955, approve the interim actions of its own
presidium--such as the 25 January decree ending the state of war
with Germany, and possibly hear the broad outlines of the Sixth
Five-Year Plan to begin in 1956. In addition it may formally ratify
the 2 December declaration of the Moscow conference of Satellites
and "approve" a report by Foreign Minister Molotov on foreign pol-
icy. However, the Soviet government will probably not undertake
any commitment for action after ratification of the Paris agreements.
Present threats and promises, however, will probably continue.
29 Jan 55
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Nape 4,00,
FAR EAST
3. Chou En-lai seen willing to release American airmen to relatives:
4.
UN secretary general Hammarskj old has
expressed the hope that it will be possi-
ble in the future to permit relatives of
detained Americans to travel to Commu-
nist China. He has the clear impression
that Chou En-lai intends to release some of the prisoners in cus-
tody of their relatives in an attempt to re-establish the "humani-
tarian" position of China.
One of Hammarskjold's assistants says
this impression of Chou's position has been supported by both the
Soviet and Polish delegations at the United Nations.
Comment: Chou's invitation to the
relatives on 21 January suggested an intention to release at least
some of the prisoners within a few months in an effort to concili-
ate world opinion. Peiping may feel, however, in the light of
President Eisenhower's message to Congress and current comment
on it, that to free any Americans at this time would be interpreted
as a sign of weakness.
29 Jan 55
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 5
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Igoe
WESTERN EUROPE�
5. Soustelle appointment may weaken Mendes-France government:
The appointment on 26 January of Jacques
Soustelle as governor general of Algeria
may weaken the position of the Mendes-
France government during the forthcom-
ing North African debate rather than strengthen it as the premier
had hoped, according to the American embassy in Paris. There
is much discontent in the National Assembly over the appointment.
The premier is said to be planning to get
Soustelle to Algeria as fast as possible so that he can make a major
speech there before the opening of the assembly debate on 2 Febru-
ary.
Comment: Mendes-France is hoping for
the support of those deputies who, although opposed to his general
program, are willing to keep him in power until the Council of the
Republic acts on the Paris accords.
The premier apparently still expects the
appointment of Soustelle to Algeria and of two other Gaullists to
the cabinet to win over a majority of the 36 Gaullists who have re-
fused to back him on earlier North African votes. If, as seems
likely, this maneuver is successful, it should enable him to off-
set threatened desertions among center and left elements of his
support in the expected confidence vote.
29 Jan 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 6
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