CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A019900030001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 16, 2003
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 30, 1971
• Content Type: REPORT

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Central Intelligence Bulletin
Secret
N2 42
30 August 1971
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T
No. 0207/71
30 August 1971
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
SOUTH VIETNAM: The government is gratified by yes-
terday's voter turnout. (Page 1)
LAOS: The Communists have rebuffed Prime Minister
Souvanna's efforts to get peace talks started. (Page 3)
COMMUNIST CHINA: A new trade
agreement
is the latest step in the gradual develo
m
t
f
p
en
o
closer
relations. (Page 4)
MARITIME ISSUES: The latest preparatory session sug-
gests that urther problems lie ahead for the US.
(Page 5)
IRAQ: The Jewish population, which once numbered
5,000-7,000, is rapidly emigrating. (Page 7)
AUSTRIA: An opposition challenge has added an element
of uncertainty to an otherwise quiet election campaign.
(Page 8)
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SOUTH VIETNAM: Voter turnout for yesterday's
Lower House elect ons was gratifying to the govern-
ment.
Participation compares very favorably with
last year's Senate elections. All four corps areas
report that in at least one or two provinces the
vote was significantly larger than last year.
Communist military efforts to disrupt the elec-
tion process were widespread, but small scale and
ineffective. None of several threatened opposition
demonstrations materialized, although opposition
groups are busy documenting irregularities. Most of
the complaints are coming from MR IV, but some oppo-
sition candidates in Da Nang claim they were omitted
from the ballot and late voters in Saigon were turned
away when the polls closed for the day. In general,
irregular-
s ies do not appear to have been a ma-'-or factor in
the election process.
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Muong chepone
Phalane
THAILAND
Bolovens
Plateau
!E7NAM
551812 B-71 CIA
Area of
maps
? Government-held location
0 Communist-held location
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LAOS: The Communists have rebuffed Prime Min-
ister Souvanna's latest efforts to get peace talks
started.
Lao Communist leader Souphanouvong has dismissed
Souvanna's message of 18 August--which proposed dis-
cussions for a cease-fire and a bombing halt in
northeast Laos--as "unrealistic" and a "crafty ma-
neuver." Souvanna's more recent suggestion for neu-
tralizing the Plaine des Jarres was similarly brushed
aside. The Pathet Lao representative in Vientiane
told a press conference on 27 August that Souphanou-
vong remains opposed to such a step as long as allied
bombing of Communist troops and the Ho Chi Minh trail
in Laos continues.
On the military front, meanwhile, the Communists
have increased their pressure on government units in
the northern foothills of the plaine. Three irreg-
ular battalions were forced to withdraw from four
major positions north and northeast of Phou San on
27 August, following a series of heavy shelling and
ground attacks; irregular casualties were six killed
and 42 wounded. On 28 August, the commander of three
other irregular battalions on the northeastern part
of the plaine reported that his forces also may soon
come under strong attack because of considerable
Communist, troop infiltration in that sector.
In south Laos, government forces attempting to
retake Paksong on the Bolovens Plateau continued to
run into scattered Communist resistance over the
weekend and made no significant advances. An irreg-
ular reconnaissance team that moved briefly into
Paksong on 27 August reported that villagers told
them that the few North Vietnamese troops remaining
in Paksong were sick and dispirited.
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MALAYSIA - COMMUNIST CHINA: The latest step
in Malaysia's gradual development of closer rela-
tions with Communist China is a purchase agreement,
chiefly of rubber.
Peking's trade delegation to Kuala Lumpur ended
its six-day visit on 28 August with announcement of
an agreement formalizing already existing trade. It
provides for direct purchase of 40,000 tons or rub-
ber, 5,000 tons of palm oil, and 50,000 cubic yards
of logs. The rubber represents only a portion of
China's annual rubber purchases in the Singapore/
Malaysia market, which in recent years have ranged
from 100,000 to 200,000 tons. Sales under the pur-
chase agreement, however, will be transacted directly
rather than indirectly through agents as in the past.
Talks in Peking last May reportedly reached a verbal
agreement that rubber purchases this year could reach
150,000 tons.
Any move toward diplomatic relations continues
o remain in the indefinite future.
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MARITIME ISSUES: Developments at the recently
concluded preparatory meeting for the 1973 Law of
the Sea conference may pose further problems for
the US.
During the session, the US formally acknowl-
edged its willingness to accept a 12-mile territo-
rial waters limit provided that rights of free pas-
sage through international straits are guaranteed.
Responses indicate general support for such a limit
if a broader zone conceding coastal state control
over economic resources can be negotiated; the US
is presently unwilling to concede such a zone. A
few states persist in opposing freedom of navigation
beyond 12 miles.
Some Latin American states worked closely with
Spain during the meeting, obtaining Madrid's support
for a 200-mile resources zone in return for align-
ing themselves with Spain in opposition to the US
straits proposal. Spain wants the right of passage
through straits confined to "innocent" activity,
thereby giving the coastal state control over the
entry of oil tankers and warships. Madrid in re-
cent weeks has also revived the concept of the de-
militarization of the Mediterranean. It may hope
to use these ploys as bargaining chips in negotia-
ting base rights with the US and better linkage to
Western defenses.
No progress was made on the fishing question,
as the states with distant-water fishing fleets
were at loggerheads with the less developed coun-
tries intent on exclusive control over the living
resources off their coasts. Also, the US proposal
for international regulations to govern exploita-
tion of the mineral-rich ocean floor made little
headway.
(continued)
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These developments suggest that the 1973 con-
ference, like the meetings in 1958 and 1960, may
not produce meaningful and widely acceptable agree-
ments. Moreover, the Latin American states, which
are known to believe that additional time is needed
to gain adherents to the 200-mile club, might try
to postpone the conference.
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IRAQ: Iraq's Jewish population, which numbered
about 5,000-7,000 before the Arab-Israeli war in June
1967, is rapidly emigrating.
Between early July and early August, 325 Jews
"escaped" to Iran through border crossing points in
Iraqi Kurdistan. The exodus is apparently aided by
local'Kurds who, for a fee, will escort the escapees
to the border, where they are admitted by Iranian
authorities. Each day brings new arrivals and it
is estimated that the Jewish community, which lives
largely in Baghdad, has now dwindled to about 1,700.
Last year at this time the Jewish population was
about 2,500.
The Iraqi Government is aware of this movement,
but has chosen to look the other way. The govern-
ment's condoning of the departures is in sharp con
trast to its harsh policies during the period fol-
lowing the execution in January 1969 of 14 Jews
charged with spying for Israel and the US. World
opinion gradually led the Iraqis to relax their em-
igration controls and other repressive measures.
Except for a period in September 1970 when the ref-
ugee flow ebbed, the escape route has been practi-
cally wide open.
The escapees take only temporary refuge in
Iran.. Some go on to Israel, but in the past many
have gone to Canada and Denmark, where special ar-
ran ements have been made for further emigration.
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AUSTRIA: A challenge by the opposition People's
Party OeVP) to the legality of the national elec-
tions scheduled for 10 October has added an element
of uncertainty to the so far quiet campaign.
During the past few weeks, the People's Parties
in the provincial governments of Lower Austria,
Tyrol, and Vorarlberg have filed appeals to the
Constitutional Court. These unexpected challenges
rest primarily on the claim that the electoral law
passed last year and the use of 1961 census figures
for parliamentary apportionment violate the princi-
ple of balanced proportional representation. Two
OeVP provincial governors, moreover, have requested
that the government either postpone the elections
until the completion of the 1971 census or call a
special parliamentary session to decree that the
composition of any parliament elected on 10 October,
will be apportioned on the basis of the new census
figures whenever they become available.
The People's Party, desperately searching for
leadership and issues, has much to gain from either
a postponement or a reapportionment. Population
trends indicate that four seats now held by Vienna
and its environs, which traditionally vote social-
ist, should be awarded to the federal states in
western Austria, such as Vorarlberg, Tyrol, and
Salzburg. These areas are electoral strongholds of
the conservative People's Party.
Seemingly unruffled, Socialist Chancellor
Kreisky has dismissed the demands of his opponents
as unjustified and unworkable. Most legal experts
expect the Constitutional Court to reject the ap-
peals of the People's Party. The court, which re-
convenes on 4 October, must make its decision
uickl if it is to affect the elections.
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