CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A002300040001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 6, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 17, 1955
• Content Type: REPORT

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17 November 1955
Copy No.
100
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
OCCUMENT NO. -
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
C1 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE:: 2 C 1 C
AUTH: HR 7p,p~
DAT'k ., _ . REVIEWER;
25
25
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
State Dept. review completed
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CONTENTS
1. BRITISH COMMISSIONER GENERAL FOR SOUTHEAST
ASIA FAVORS STRENGTHENING SEATO (page 3).
2. VIET MINH FORCING CLOSURE OF SAINTENY OFFICE
IN HAIPHONG (page 4).
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 5)
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17 Nov 55
THE TAIWAN STRAIT
(page 7)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
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1. BRITISH COMMISSIONER GENERAL FOR SOUTHEAST
ASIA FAVORS STRENGTHENING SEATO
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The American ambassador in Phnom
Penh reports that Sir Robert Scott,
who took up his duties as the British
commissioner general for Southeast
Asia in September, has indicated a positive attitude toward
SEATO and is casting about, for practical means to strengthen
the organization. Scott is scheduled to preside at next month's
meeting of the SEATO powers in Bangkok.
Scott stated that although SEATO would
not be really effective until Burma and Indonesia become
members--which is unlikely in the near future--he believed
that military men throughout the area were awakening to
strategic realities and might ultimately have,, greater influ-
ence on neutralist civil leaders than is now apparent. He
also was pleased to note, on his recent trip through South-
east Asia, that security in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was
not as bad as he had feared,
Comment The British government, concerned
with implementing the 1954 Geneva
agreements on Indochina and anxious to maintain the status
quo in Southeast Asia, has shown little interest in strength-
ening the SEATO organization. It has, in fact, sought to
prevent any SEATO action which might, conceivably antago-
nize the Communists. Scott's favorable attitude probably
does not reflect a change in London's policy.
17 Nov 55 Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
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2. VIET MINH FORCING CLOSURE OF SAINTENY OFFICE
IN HAIPHONG
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A member of France's Sainteny
mission indicates that the mission's
Haiphong office will be closed as a
result of Viet Minh pressure. The
r c r e there has been forbidden the use
of radio facilities and accused of illegal currency trans-
actions. A Viet Minh official is said to have stated that
pressure is being applied because of the French govern-
ment's failure to accept an official Viet Minh representa-
tive in Paris.
The French official suggests that the
Viet Minh wants to keep all Western observers out of Hai-
phong and believes that the British vice consul may be
squeezed out next.
Comment French. interest in the soft "Sainteny
approach" has been gradually diminish-
ing because of the failure of the mission to achieve any sig-
nificant results. Viet Minh authorities may feel that a
change in tactics on their part is called for to determine
whether or not the presence of the Sainteny mission holds
any further benefits for them.
17 Nov 55 Current Intelligence Bulletin
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'No
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 16 November)
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reported.
No significant military activity has been
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Israeli Foreign
Ministry officials continue their efforts o convince the West of
the serious dangers in the situation. One such official, speak-
ing in Geneva, avers that recent developments have changed
Israel's "sense of isolation to one of strangulation" and that
,'Israel is left to its limited but forceful wisdom.,,
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Egyptian foreign minister Fawzi told
Ambassador Byroade on 14 November that Egypt wants to
get back to its "traditional system" of depending upon the
West for arms. Fawzi said that if this could be done, the '~.
Soviet bloc deal could be made a "one shot" affair and the
"nightmare" closed out as soon as possible. Fawzi indicated,
however, that Egypt did not have any specific equipment re-
quest in mind for the immediate future. Fawzi's remarks ap-
pear to be part of Nasr's current att is to keep a foot in
both the Western and Soviet camps. FL
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Although the Saudi Arabian ambassador
in Cairo has denied that his visit to Soviet ambassador Solod
had anything to do with arms, Cairo's semiofficial radio con-
tinues to state that the meeting dealt with this subject. The
radio claims that King Saud has suggested to the USSR that
Saudi representatives meet with the ambassador in Cairo to
discuss means.nf enabling the Soviet Union to send arms to
Saudi Arabia.
An American press dispatch from Cairo
quotes an informed source to the effect that the USSR will sup-
port Saudi Arabia "by all possible means" in its dispute with
Britain over the Buraimi oasis. If the USSR has actually made
such an offer, it presumably refers to possible Saudi action in
the Unite Nations as well as to Soviet bloc arms offers to the
Saudis. ~ ::1
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BIWEEKLY SUMMARY
3-16 November 1955
THE TAIWAN STRAIT
Report of the IAC Current. intelligence Group
for the Taiwan Strait Problem
1. There were no significant military developments.
There continues to be no evidence that the Chinese Commu-
nists are preparin to initiate major combat operations in
the near future.
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3. Chinese Communist commentary on the Taiwan issue
during the past two weeks subsided to a low level. The October
Revolution celebrations in Peiping on 6 and 7 November featured
speeches by Yudin, the Soviet ambassador to China, and others
stressing support of the Soviet People for the Chinese Commu-
nist claim to Taiwan.
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