TRADE WITH CHINA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 9, 2011
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: May 27, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7 p~~~
U.Q. 101 11t+lale VIt1, j
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY Hungary
SUBJECT Trade with China
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F THE UNITED STATES. WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE IS. SECTIONS 7S$
ND 7S4. OF THE U.S. CODE. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION ON REVE.
ATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON 12
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
NO. AF p*cs
MID, OF E cI.S.
SVPP. TO
REPS; P40.
1. There were no commercial relations of importance betwe" NOWIT end Oh Wore
1945. Exchange of goods was begun in 1948 under Soviet *4041, U t b Mess no
transactions of international interest until 1950, 37 wu*4" of 195 the
Chinese trade constituted the most valuable and iapo M prt off' 017te toreign
commerce. Hungarian foreign trade in 1953 would have U d*sutrow doldr ms
without the, export and import business with China,
2. The buildup of goods exchange between these countries took plies trot 1931 until
the end of 1952, while Andrds Szobek was Hungarian to eiga tr-ds Mistier.. Although
in the latter part of 1953 he was reduced. to the rank of t3i* Opyty of tMe
Foreign and Domestic Trade Ministry under Jdsssf IogA4r, isobek still headed the
far Eastern branch of, the Ministry. His right hand in b4ldiAg Up CkInego -Rmgarun
trade relations was Emanuel Safrankd,,the Hungarian AMassador, to 01".
3. The China section of the Trade Ministry has been headed for several years by Istvdn
Salusinszky, a scion of a. good Jewish bourgeois family of ~IMspest~ sow about,42
or 44 years old, who studied law and aimed at succeeding his tether as shweellor
advocate. His uncle, Gyula Salusinszky, was one of the most hated editors in
Hungary, where for many years he edited the capitalist-bourgeois newspaper "As Rat".
Istv[n Salusinszky saw the great chance of his life in 1945s joined the -Sst
(arty, worked his way up, through ability, as a capable official in apita of his
origin, landed in one of the most important positions in the Foreign Trade Ministry,
and at the present time is the actual organizer and director of the China trade.
He has been to China several times, the last time in 1953, and personally conducted
negotiations there. He holds the rank of ministerial chief. of division.
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COP(P IDENTIAL
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7
COMP IDENTIAL
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4. There is a permanent Hungarian trade branch in Peiping, the head of which at the
present time is Istvdn Nagy. Next under him is Zsuzsa Beck.
5. In 1953 Hungary exported the following goods to China: 2,000 tons chemicals; 2,300
tons liquid high explosives; 400,000 tons of gas pipe,of various sizes; 4.200 tons
of medicines; 2,550 military tractors; 50 complete X-ray apparatus. Hungary also
exported unknown but considerable quantities of textiles, radio parts., machine tools,
medical and dental instruments, electric light bulbs, photographic equipment and
'materials, and optical goods; also a few locomotives and a few autobuses from the
I+tarusz factory. Under the Chinese-Hungarian trade pact, Hungary was to furnish
1,100 Csepel Diesel military trucks during the closing months of the Korean War.
The vehicles were ready for delivery but shipping space could not be obtained on
account of the size of the shipment, so the trucks stayed in Hungary.
6. For its part China exported to Hungary asbestos, rubber, metals and borai in quantiti
not known. Rubber was the most. important item. Without it the Hungarian rubber
industry would not have been able to meet demands. The largest Chinese delivery in
actual quantity was 10,000 tons of maize in form for. consumption.
7. A close Chinese-Hungarian cooperation exists in respect to rubber, in which the
following Hungarian experts are occupied: Dr. Zoltdn Bruckner, deputy director of
the Hungarian Rubber Research Institute, and chief engineer 1Asz16 Horvdth,of the
Budapest rubber factory ("Rugg .s4 g'.j#,s_ eastward.
8. The greater part of the 1953 deliveries were made by sea. The Hungarian goods were
shipped from the Rumanian port of Constanta and the Polish port. of Gdynia, where
forts to route at
they were loaded on 9,000 ton (B.r.t.) ships. Hungary made *f
least a part of the exports through Trieste, but the Chinesi were determinedly
against it. Their main argument'was,that there were never enough goods'in Trieste
at one time so,that.a ship could be fully loaded. Taking more time tp.assemtile:-
export goods was politically inadvisable and difficult to,camy put because oP
hack of space. -A small percentage of the Hungarian export went. to China,by raj1
through the USSR.
9. The chief port for Hungarian export and import. trade in China was the north Chinese
port of Takubar, which is hardly known in Europe.
10. Hungarian-Chinese trade holds out great possibilities to. the: international shipping,
industry, A large British shipping firm in London has boaked.the largest business
and profits. Danish and Czechoslovakian transport firms have..,also- participated,
actively. On Hungary's part shipments are handled through the,natienal transport
organization HASPED which has a separate. division for.shipments,t? China.
11. A new department for settling Chinese-Hungarian trade accounts has been set up in
the Hungarian National Bank in Budapest. The official responsible for the smooth
settlement of accounts is Andrds Fodor, foreign exchange director of the bank,
12. In recent months there have been no fewer than seven Chinese trade delegations in
Europe, studying the possibilities of extending East-West trade. One delegation
spent the entire month of December 1953 .in. Budapest, engaged:pia preparing the Chinese
Hungarian trade agreement for 1954. 0 25X1
13. China, as well as Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia, will
increase export and import trade according to a unified Soviet
plan. 25X1
14. Addendum. Andrds Szobek has just been rewarded for his services in d ve}g
Chinese-Hungarian trade by appointment as Ambassador to China. HurrgaPy cMft. 00
"SL" caterpillar tractors in January 1954. The Gyor car works up to January 1954
produced altogether 1,060 cable hoist. conveyors fr?^ transporting finished goodsin
plants and factories; 400 went to the USSR 160 to Bulgaria, and 180 to China
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/06/09: CIA-RDP81-01036R000200060019-7