CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/06/12

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03189005
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: June 12, 1955

CO3189005
FWff
12 June 1955
Copy No. 99
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUtvlENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
CI DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE. 20/0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE..9/J/80 REVIEWEF
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17
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3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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Neer
Novi
SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Ecuador apparently to receive Czech arms (page 3).
FAR EAST
Establishment of major Chinese Communist naval command at
Foochow indicated (page 4).
WESTERN EUROPE
3. West German parliament seen delaying Adenaueris recruitment
bill (page 4).
4. Western European Union council drags feet on Saar (page 5).
* * * *
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GENERAL
1. Ecuador apparently to receive Czech arms:
Comment: Completion of a contract for
3,000 carbines, valued at $188,00G would be the first significant
Czech shipment of arms to Latin America since the spring of 1954
when arms were shipped for the Arbenz regime in Guatemala.
Czechoslovakia was especially inter-
ested in shipping "military techniques"--presumably arms--to
Ecuador. Previously the Czechs had been reluctant to ship arms,
despite Ecuador's interest in procuring them.
Interest in developing trade and expand-
ing relations with Ecuador probably account for Prague's change
in attitude. There has been virtually no trade between the two
countries for more than two years.
Czechoslovakia, the Soviet bloc's major
supplier of arms to underdeveloped Western countries, shipped
spare parts for riflea_arLthmachine guns to Ecuador in 1952.
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FAR EAST
Establishment of major Chinese Communist naval command at
Foochow indicated:
Comment: This development clearly im-
plies that primary responsibility for Communist naval operations
in the Formosa Straits rests with authorities at Foochow. It also
suggests that naval strength at Foochow will eventually be in-
creased considerably.
progress has already been made in developing minor base facili-
ties.
The Communists are expected to increase
the scale of their naval operations in the Formosa Straits area, in-
cluding the protection of coastal shipping, when new air bases are
completed and air defenses strengthened.
WESTERN EUROPE
3. West German parliament seen delaying Adenauer's recruitment
leading members of all coalition parties
in the Bundestag feel that passage of the
government's bill to provide for early re-
cruitment of armed forces cadres will be difficult, if not impossi-
ble. The Bundesrat, or upper house, has already returned the
bill, complaining that it is unclear on such important matters as
civilian control of the armed forces.
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Comment: The present parliamentary
opposition is mainly to the-ha,stily drafted bill presented by
Chancellor Adenauer and not to the government's long-range
rearmament program. Many West German leaders feel that
legislation covering the formation of the armed forces cadres
should be drafted with greater care, since these caderes will
have a, vital influence on the future development of all the armed
forces. Nevertheless it appears likely that the parliament will
approve the recruitment bill, with some modifications, before
its summer recess.
4. Western European Union council drags feet on Saar:
t the first meeting of the permanent
ouncil of the Western European Union,
eld on 9 June in London, no progress
as made on the choice of a commis-
sioner to exercise WEU's authority in the Saar because neither
the French nor the West Germans wished to discuss the matter,
American officials in London report. Furthermore, no candidates
were proposed for the commission to supervise the prospective
referendum on the French-Germa,n agreement of last October on
the status of the Saar.
Comment: Appointment and activation
of the supervisory commissitn will be necessary for inauguration
of the three-month campaigning period which, under the French-
German agreement, must precede the planned referendum. Both
the French and Saar governments have hoped that this referendum
could be held no later than September.
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