CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001600580001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 31, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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31 July 19 54
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT N?.S
Cl DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: ?Q/~
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
State Department review completed
 Approved FUU&
SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Attempts to lift UN embargo against China foreseen (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Viet Minh held to have high subversive potential in Laos (page 3).
3. Ceylon delays decision on SEATO (page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Arab officials make unprecedented suggestion on refugee problem
(page 5).
5. Egyptian.Moslem Brotherhood attacks Suez base agreement (page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. French Foreign Ministry favors delaying reply to Soviet note
(page 6).
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GENERAL
25X1 A1. Attempts to lift UN embargo against China foreseen:
The American UN delegation believes that
pressure may develop at the Ninth General
Assembly, which opens on 21 September,
to lift the UN embargo on strategic ship-
ments to Communist China.
Comment: The UN embargo resolution
of May 1951 added consider-al~lee moral weight to trade control
measures fostered by the United States; it was based directly on
the February 1951 resolution naming Communist China the aggressor
in Korea.
Pressure for relaxing China trade controls
was noted in the recently concluded COCOM review meetings. A
move to discuss these controls was deferred, however, until Septem-
ber.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
25X1A 2.
Viet Minh held to have high subversive potential in Laos:
Jean Cousseau, a leading official French
expert on Indochina, says there are be.-
tween 80, 000 and 100, 000 Viet Minh ad-
herents in Laos. Cousseau told an
American embassy official in Saigon that the greatest danger of sub-
version, however, comes from a small group of carefully selected
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Viet. Minh agents infiltrated by Ho Chi Minh several years ago.
These men have assumed Laotian names, speak the language, and
-are highly successful among the politically naive Laotians
Comment: Cousseau's estimate on the
number of Viet Minh adherents in Laos is much higher than others.
The American charge in Vientiane reports
that the Laotian cabinet, since the Geneva conference, has been
unable to unite on a strong point of view. He believes there is a
danger of relaxation with a consequent loss of control to the subver-
sives.
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3. Ceylon delays decision on..SEATO:
Ceylon's prime minister told Ambassador
Crowe on 29 July that he personally
favored the establishment of a Southeast
Asian treaty organization, but wanted to
get the views of the other Colombo powers before making a decision.
He.said that India and Indonesia had .already cabled they would not
support SEATO, and Burma and Pakistan had not yet stated their
views. The ambassador feels Ceylon may join if Pakistan does,
and if Burma does not oppose the arrangement.
Comment: Domestic considerations will
probably prevent Ceylon from ecoming a charter member of
SEATO.
Thailand and the Philippines are the only
Asian countries now committed to join -SEATO. Responsible
Pakistani officials have not yet been contacted by the American
embassy in Karachi, which believes Pakistan is favorably disposed
toward participation. The Burmese have repeatedly stated they
will not join an organization, but have indicated they would be
pleased to see it established.
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NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Arab officials make unprecedented suggestion on refugee problem:
Two Arab officials at the UN, Asha .of
Syria and Khalidy of Iraq, suggested to
American UN delegate Wadsworth that Arab
refugees not wishing to return to Israel be
provided with adequate compensation.
Wadsworth believes this is the first time
the Arabs have made such a suggestion on their own initiative. He
says it raises some hope of general Arab acceptance of the principle
of compensation rather than of repatriation.
The American UN delegation believes this
is the time to press Israel for a positive response to repeated UN
requests for its views on implementing its previous offer to nego-
tiate on compensation.
Both Asha and Khalidy stated that the Suez
settlement, arms aid to Iraq, and Department of State support of
recent speeches by Assistant: Secretary of State Byroade have con-
vinced them that American policy toward Israel and the Arab
states has changed. They believe that the United States now has
the best opportunity since 1948 to capitalize on its newly gained in-
fluence,
Comment: The Arabs would try to set a
high.price for yielding on -repatriat ion, and Israel is probably
unable to meet that price with its own financial resources.
5. Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood attacks Suez base agreement:
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The executive council of the Moslem
Brotherhood met on 29 July and decided
to oppose the Suez agreement, according
to press reports from Cairo and Beirut.
Hasan Hudaibi, head of the Brotherhood,
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condemned the agreement as "tying Egypt to the Western camp. "
He declared that the agreement had given Britain a five-year exten-
sion of its 1936 treaty, which expires in 1956.
According to a press report from Cairo,
a spokesman for the Brotherhood stated that since the Nasr regime
would not permit publication of the decision, arrangements had been
made to distribute pamphlets secretly throughout Egypt.
Comment: This is the first indication
that important antiregime ff actions may attack the .Suez agreement.
The fanatic Brotherhood with some 500,000 members is capable
of initiating serious activities against the regime.
WESTERN EUROPE
25X1A 6.
French Foreign Ministry favors delaying reply to Soviet note:
Ambassador Dillon reported- on.28 July
the French Foreign Ministry is inclined
to think that the .reply to the Soviet note
of 24.July should not be delivered until
about 25 August, after the EDC debate.
Dillon later reported that delays in the
preparation of the government's economic
program might throw off Mendes-France's
EDC`-schedule.
According to Ambassador Aldrich in
London, the British.Foreign Office believes that because of the
possible effects on the French EDC debate, French views .on
timing should determine the date of the reply.
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