CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A011200050001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 16, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Central Intelligence Bulletin
Secret
53
16 May 1968
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No. 0157/68
16 May 1968
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
Vietnam: Situation report. (Page 1)
Communist China: New revolutionary committees are
being formed, even in areas where there is disorder.
(Page 3)
Czechoslovakia: Prague assures Moscow of continued
support but is pushing ahead with reforms. (Page 5)
France: The unrest may bring on a cabinet shake-up
but not a new government. (Page 6)
Japan: The leftists are launching a campaign to end
port calls of US nuclear-powered ships. (Page 7)
British Honduras: The British see little hope for
settlement of dispute on the present basis. (Page 8)
Chile: Communist efforts to build a popular front
are meeting early success. (Page 9)
Korea: South Korean firing (Page 10)
South Korea - West German : Relations agitated
(Page 10)
Japan-Philippines: Loan talks delayed (Page 11)
USSR-Yugoslavia: Submarine visit (Page 11)
Nigeria: Outlook poor for peace (Page 11)
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C South Vietnam: Mortar attacks on allied posi-
tions in the central highlands and ground probes of
several outposts on.15 May may signal the beginning
of major offensive activity in this area.
Captured prisoners have long indicated that the
Communists are prepared to coordinate attacks through-
out Kontum, Pleiku, and Darlac provinces. One of
the ground attacks on the 15th was against a South
Vietnamese Regional Force position east of Kontum
and involved at least a battalion of Communists.
Mortar fire hit the US military advisory compound
in Kontum, Camp Enari, headquarters of the US 4th
Infantry Division, and the northern outskirts of
Ban Me Thuot.
Near Saigon, the Communists continue to fire
into population centers. The attacks are partic-
ularly heavy in Hau Nghia Province and may repre-
sent an effort to cover the withdrawal of main
force units from Saigon proper. Allied forces are
encountering company-to-battalion size units along
Communist exfiltration routes. Engagements have
been fought from well-prepared Communist positions,
suggesting 4-hat nm,-mv units intend to remain close
to Saigon.
three battalions from Bin. in rove ed
for a new attack on Saigon in which the Binh Loi
Bridge is a specific target. This bridge controls
the northeastern access to Saigon.
According to press reports, South Vietnamese
representative in Paris Bui Diem is under instruc-
tions to make "discreet contacts" with the North
Vietnamese delegation through Vietnamese exiles
living in Paris. Diem is reported to have told
journalists in Paris that the South Vietnamese are
tired of the war and ready to compromise but not
surrender.
(continued)
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C Diem's remarks may have been misinterpreted,
but his stated willingness to meet with the North
Vietnamese is not out of line with established
Saigon policy. Saigon has always said that it was
willing to meet with Hanoi, since they were the
principal parties in the war. (Map)
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Communist China: Efforts to form new "revo-
lutionary committees" continue to be pushed, even
in areas where there is considerable violence and
disorder.
Sporadic but violent clashes, often between
armed groups, reportedly are still occurring in
many areas of China. In general, fighting is heav-
iest in the six provinces that have not yet formed
"revolutionary committees." These provinces seem
to be hard-core problem areas. Some are run by
military men who may not have Peking's complete
trust. Recent speeches by Peking leaders, as
quoted in Red Guard newspapers, have been critical
of commanders in Szechwan, Yunnan, Fukien, and
Sinkiang. According to an April newspaper, dele-
gations in Peking representing factions including
those in the military have been studying a direc-
tive issued by Mao Tse-tung in February telling
military units to correct their political errors.
Delegations from the six provinces that still
lack committees have been in Peking since at least
February. Apparently top leaders are having con-
siderable difficulty agreeing on who will run these
provinces.
It appears that disorder is no obstacle to the
formation of a new "revolutionary committee."
Fighting was very heavy in parts of Liaoning Prov-
ince just before a committee was established there
on 10 May.
(continued)
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The chairman of the Liaoning committee is the
controversial commander of the Shenyang Military
Region, Chen Hsi-lien. Chen has been repeatedly
denounced by militant Red Guard groups, who presum-
ably instigated the fighting reported on 10 May.
The last two provincial committees--Shensi (1 May)
and Liaoning--appear to be unusually weak struc-
tures.
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Czechoslovakia: Govern-
ment ea ers in Prague have
reassured Moscow of their
"permanent cooperation," but
at the same time expressed de-
termination to continue their
reforms.
At a press conference on
14 May, Premier Cernik empha-
sized Czechoslovakia's ties to
the Soviet Union and the other
"socialist" states. Alluding
to outside pressures, he said:
"It is polemics, rather than
pressure. Perhaps there will
be pressure later on, we do
not know. There could be,
for example, pressures on our
oil or on our iron ore. But we are going to go
ahead and do what we must do and we will wait and
see." As far as is known, Czechoslovak news media
have not reported these remarks.
The Soviet press continues to attack Czecho-
slovak liberals but has yet to criticize any of
Prague's new leaders. Moscow's trade union news-
paper, Trud, on 15 May protested a Czechoslovak
philosopher's having been permitted to deny the
leading role of the party in Prague's official
trade union paper. It compared his, views to those
of "our enemies." On the same day the Soviet writ-
ers' union daily criticized Czechoslovakia's most
famous playwright on essentially the same grounds.
The restricted nature of Moscow's press at-
tacks suggests that the Soviets may be waiting fur-
ther results of their pressure campaign before
making new moves against Czechoslovakia.
(Photo)
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France: Student and labor unrest may lead to
an eventual cabinet shuffle but is unlikely to bring
down the government.
The government has promised major concessions
to the students, including an amnesty for those ar-
rested and the formation of a special committee to
deal with student demands. It probably hopes these
concessions will take the steam out of student dem-
onstrations and strengthen the government's hand in
the censure vote next week. A cabinet change, how-
ever, may be necessary in view of student and par-
liamentary demands for the resignation of the min-
isters of education and the interior. De Gaulle
would want to postpone this so as not to concede
too much under pressure.
Meanwhile, the forces arrayed against the gov-
ernment have begun to show signs of division. Some
student-teacher elements resent the absence of la-
bor during the first days "at the barricades" and
believe the unions are exploiting the unrest for
their own ends. The students' unwillingness thus
far to give the government a chance to follow
through on promised reforms, as well as the Commu-
nist and anarchist flavor of recent demonstrations,
may reduce public support for the students.
Also evident is a split between moderate ele-
ments wanting reform and extremists seeking over-
throw of the "bourgeois order." Attempts by the
militants to regain the revolutionary momentum of
13 May could bring on a fresh--and harsh--govern-
ment reaction.
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Japan: The leftist opposition is mounting a
nationwide protest campaign to end all port calls
by US nuclear-powered warships.
An abnormally high radioactivity reading in
Sasebo harbor during the recent visit of the
Swordfish was quickly publicized by the opposition.
Subsequent widespread exploitation by the press and
the opposition reflects the highly sensitive "nu-
clear allergy" of the Japanese public.
Sato and cabinet members have come under sharp
opposition grilling in the Diet and are under con-
siderable pressure to reassure the public on radio-
active hazards.
The press reports that a committee sponsored
by the Socialist Party will stage three weeks of
"anti-Swordfish" rallies and demonstrations, be-
ginning at Sasebo on 18 May. Other demonstrations
will follow at Yokosuka and Tokyo, where the na-
tional campaign will reach its peak when Socialist
Diet members are to take to the streets the first
week of June. The "radioactivity scare" gives the
Socialists a widely popular issue for the campaign
for the House of Councillors election in July.
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British Honduras: The British see no hope of
settling their dispute with Guatemala over British
Honduras on the basis of the US mediator's proposals.
London is considering sending a ministerial-
level delegation to the colony to discuss what
should be done next. One of the main topics for
discussion would be the British Honduran request
for the UK to arrange an independence conference in
June. According to Foreign office officials, such
a conference cannot be postponed long.
London will continue to seek a means of resolv-
ing the dispute that would permit future cooperation
between the two neighboring states. The only set-
tlement it believes British Honduras would consider
would involve no more than economic cooperatip
with Guatemala and access to the Caribbean.
I
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Chile: Efforts of the Chilean Communist Party
to build a "popular front" as its vehicle for at-
taining power are meeting with early success.
The Communist and Radical parties issued a
joint declaration on 13 May calling for unity of
action by all progressive forces. After harshly
criticizing the "inefficient and undefined" policy
of the Christian Democratic government, the parties
stated that there are points of agreement permit-
ting joint action toward formation of a multiparty
government.
The declaration is a major statement of the
Communist interest in creating a broad electoral
alliance to bring it into the government in 1970.
The declaration implicitly rejects the concept of
a narrow Marxist front espoused by the pro-Castro
Socialists and probably will accentuate rifts in
the Radical and Christian Democratic parties. The
declaration also constitutes a rebuff to Christian
Democratic leaders and to the idea of a leftist
front under presidential aspirant Radomiro Tomic.
Communists held government positions in 1946
when a Radical president, elected with their sup-
port, appointed three to important cabinet posts
and several others to middle and lower level ex-
ecutive jobs. The Communists, in an apparent
effort to push their luck, took too active a role
in serious mining strikes. They were thrown out
of office in early 1947 and the party was outlawed
in 1948. It was made legal again in 1958. It may
have learned from this experience, however, and
might play a discreet role in any leftist govern-
ment now.
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Korea; South Korea ery fire
ranged north of the
ary demarcation line at least three times in
late April. Such firings need the permission of ei-
ther the senior US or Korean commander of the forces
along the zone. The South Koreans, however, have
never admitted firin on targets rthern
side of the line, because
the northerners have not responded in kind, senior
South Korean commanders are convinced that these
artillery attacks are the way to deal with North
Korean raiding he Demilitarized Zone.
South Korea - West German Relations between
the two countries continue to a agitated over the
case of South Korean members of a North Korean spy
ring spirited out of West Germany last spring by
South Korean security agents. Bonn and Seoul ap-
parently had an understanding that the group would
be shown clemency when trials were completed.
The West Germans have been upset by the Seoul
Appellate Court decision increasing the already
harsh sentences of some of the group. Bonn is de-
manding that they be granted clemency before the
South Korean Supreme court reviews their cases.
Seoul is interpreting a delay in West German financ-
ing of a South Korean thermal power plant as polit-
ical pressure, and may refuse to work out un
derstanding acceptable to Bonn. 17
(continued)
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Japan-Philippines: Japan is delaying talks on
a $30-million loan promised the Philippines because
the city of Manila has closed down Japanese trading
firms it claims were established illegally. The
city's action contravenes recent steps the Marcos
government has taken to encourage Japanese invest-
ment. The dispute will probably be resolved and
the loan eventually formalized, but the incident
is likely to discourage Japanese private investment.
USSR-Yugoslavia: Three Soviet diesel-powered,
R-class attack submarines and two auxiliaries that
have been operating in the Mediterranean for over
four months arrived in the Yugoslav port of Tivat
in early May for minor repairs and crew liberty.
Two Soviet submarines made a similar visit to Yugo-
slavia last June. The visits probably reflect So-
viet interest in broadening access to ports in the
Mediterranean rather than any significant change in
Yugoslav-Soviet military relations.
Nigeria: Peace talks, now reportedly scheduled
for 23 May in Kampala, Uganda, are not likely to
lead to an early resolution. of basic differences.
The generalized agenda contains items on which fed-
eral and Biafran representatives meeting in London
for the past ten days could not agree. Neither
side, moreover, yet seems willing to make meaning-
ful substantive concessions.
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