THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 1 DECEMBER 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006466911
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: December 1, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
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V
December 1, 1976
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Exempt from general
declassafication scheduk of E 0 11652
exemption category 5B( I ).(2).(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
December 1, 1976
Table of Contents
USSR: General Secretary Brezhnev yesterday summarized Soviet
grievances with the US and expressed hope for expanded co-
operation. (Page 1)
USSR:
CHINA: The standing committee of the National People's Congress
convened yesterday in Peking chiefly to consider high-level
government appointments and removals. (Page 2)
Notes: Persian Gulf; Japan; UN; South Africa - Namibia; USSR -
Saudi Arabia; India (Pages 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8)
FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
USSR: General Secre-
tary Brezhnev yester-
day summarized Soviet
grievances with the US
and expressed hope for
expanded cooperation.
The complaints voiced by Brezhnev
in the course of a dinner speech
honoring Secretary Simon were not
new. The General Secretary was
obviously using the occasion to
reiterate the Soviet position in
two areas--trade and arms control.
His message was clear: the US is
responsible for retarding progress
in US-Soviet relations and must
take the initiative in restoring
movement.
Brezhnev was blunt, as Foreign
Trade Minister Patolichev had
been earlier in the day, regard-
ing US trade policy toward the
USSR. He stated that the Soviet
Union rejects "any attempts to
link trade with any political con-
ditions and will not tolerate any
interference in our internal af-
fairs." He warned that US busi-
nessmen would continue to lose
Soviet _business unless the situa-
tion changes.
Brezhnev decried the anti-Soviet
rhetoric of the recent US elec-
tion campaign. Praising past So-
viet proposals and US-Soviet
agreements directed at curbing
the arms race, he said the Soviet
Union is prepared to go further
in cooperation with the new ad-
ministration "if it is prepared
to act in the same spirit."
Brezhnev said that efforts to
reach a new SALT agreement should
be intensified, and that he ex-
pects such an agreement to be
based on the Vladivostok under-
standings. He added that the
USSR is prepared to discuss possi-
ble new steps to prevent the pro-
liferation of nuclear weapons and
to take other measures aimed at
reducing the threat of nuclear war.
--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
CHINA: A meeting of
the standing committee
of the National People 's
Congress, China's leg-
islature, opened yes-
terday in Peking chiefly
to consider high-level
government appointments
and removals.
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Changes are almost certain to in-
clude the replacement of the min-
ister of culture, an ally of the
four fallen leftists. Another
probable candidate for replacement25X1
is Foreign Minister Chiao Kuan-hua.
--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
The Foreign Ministry
appears, in any case,
to be in for a major
Shakeup.
Chinese ambassadors to Canada,
West Germany, France, Italy, Ja-
pan, Turkey, and the United Na-
tions have all been recalled, ap-
parently permanently. Some of
these men may be in line for new
posts at home. Nearly all are
identified to some degree with
China's more outward-looking for-
eign policy of the 1970s.
This fact, in addition to the ex-
tensiveness of the Foreign Minis-
try shakeup, raises questions
about a possible readjustment in
current foreign policy lines.
Since the death of Mao, the Chi-
nese have been at pains to empha-
size continuity in their foreign
policy.
Yesterday party chairman Hua Kuo-
feng--plainly trying to capital-
ize on the immense popularity of
the late Chou En-lai--nominated
Chou's widow for the position of
one of the vice chairmen of the
standing committee of the National
People's Congress.
Wu Te, vice chairman of the con-
gress and a good bet for chairman-
ship of the NPC--a position roughly
equivalent to head of state--called
for continued criticism of Teng
Hsiao-ping. It has been rumored
that Teng would be rehabilitated
now that his major detractors have
fallen, but Wu's comment strongly
suggests that Teng's rehabilitation
is unlikely in the near future.
--continued
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SAUDI-IRAQI
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KUWAIT
SAUDI ARABIA
ETHIOPIA
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620109 7-76
F.T.A .1 ?
MILES
?o KILOMETERS 200
200
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Persian Gulf foreign
ministers were unable
to agree on a formula
for closer cooperation
on regional issues dur-
ing a two-day confer-
ence in Oman last week.
NOTES
The attendance of Iraq at the meet-
ing ensured its failure. Iraqi
leaders support regional coopera-
tion only among Arab states--thus
excluding Iran. They refuse,
moreover, to discuss regional co-
operation on security matters.
Iraqi diplomacy is aimed at block-
ing any regional formula that lim-
its the movement of ships through
the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq be-
lieves that Iran miaht use such
restrictions against Iraq and its
patron, the USSR.
Iran takes the position that the
Persian Gulf is a closed sea from
which foreign military power must
be excluded. The Shah of Iran has
been virtually the only advocate
of a comprehensive multilateral
security pact for the Gulf region.
He regards such a pact as a way to
consolidate Iran's already strong
position and as a vehicle for em-
ploying Iran's power in a policing
role.
Iran may be considering an adjust-
ment of its policy toward Iraq in
view of Baghdad's continuing re-
fusal to cooperate on regional is-
sues. The Shah may resume to some
extent his previous policy of por-
traying Iraq as an agent of insta-
bility in the Gulf and seeking
Baghdad's diplomatic isolation.
--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
The outcome of elections
for the Japanese lower
house on December 5
should enable the rul-
ing Liberal Democratic
Party to retain its ma-
jority in the Diet and
control of the govern-
ment.
UN Secretary General
Waldheim appears to
have enough support to
assure his re-election
when the Security Coun-
cil meets on Friday to
choose a secretary gen-
eral for the next five
years.
The election is the LDP's first
nationwide political test follow-
ing the Lockheed scandal, the un-
precedented indictment of a former
prime minister, and an intense--
and widely criticized--power strug-
gle within the ruling party. Even
so, the LDP should have little
problem gaining 271 of the 511
seats at stake--enough to maintain
full control of the legislative
process in the lower house.
The extent of the LDP's victory 25X1
will play a major role in former
deputy prime minister Fukuda's
challenge to Prime Minister Miki
Waldheim is confident that he will
be re-elected, apparently because
he believes that China--a perma-
nent Security Council member--will
go along with his candidacy. Wald-
heim also claims that he has the
support of Guyana, one of the two
Security Council members from
Latin America.
Yesterday former Mexican president
Echeverria formally announced his
candidacy. The Mexicans appar-
ently are counting on the Chinese
to veto Waldheim's re-election.
China's intentions, however, are
not known. The Chinese could re-
peat their 1971 action of vetoing
--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
South African Prime
Minister Vorster's
meeting last week with
a committee of the
multiracial Namibian
constitutional confer-
ence seems to have pre-
vented a collapse of
the conference, but to
have made no progress.
Waldheim on the first secret bal-
lot and then dropping their objec-
tions, permitting his election.
The Chinese have repeatedly de-
flected requests for public sup-
port of Echeverria's candidacy by
urging Mexico to round up broad
third world support first.
Only the five permanent members
can veto a candidate; the other
four--the US, UK, France, and the
USSR--support Waldheim's re-elec-
tion.
The committee had requested the
meeting because basic disagree-
ments among.the 11 delegations to
the conference have stalled ef-
forts to devise a multiracial in-
terim government. Most of the
white members of the committee
have insisted on interim arrange-
ments that would diffuse power
among the existing ethnic home-
lands instead of setting up a
strong central government as pre-
ferred by the nonwhites.
According to the US embassy, sev-
eral who participated in the meet-
ing indicated that Vorster stressed
the urgency of reaching an early
consensus on forming a government,
but did not specifically encourage
the white hardliners to compromise
with the nonwhites.
--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Soviet opposition to
Saudi Arabia's increas-
ingly active foreign
policy in the Middle
East and North Africa
has Zed to unusually
critical exchanges.
* * *
The New Times, an unofficial So-
viet weekly often used to float
trial balloons in foreign policy,
ran an article on November 26 ac-
cusing the Saudis of promoting de
fense links between the US and
Arab countries and supporting re-
actionary forces in Lebanon. One
day later the Saudis responded,
calling the USSR a "master of mis-
chief and slander" against both
communist and noncommunist govern-
ments.
_
Both states have previously avoided
,
open hostile exchanges. 25X1
(
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The USSR is also disappointed ove?5X1
the lack of diplomatic relations
with Saudi Arabia. The USSR broke
these ties nearly 40 years ago
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--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
India is harvesting a
bumper grain crop for
the second consecutive
year.
* * *
Foodgrain production reached a
record 118 million tons for the
crop year ending in June 1976 and
should range between 107 to 112
million tons this crop year. Dur-
ing the preceding four years, food
output averaged only 102 million
tons.
Grain import orders were suspended
last spring. Barring a poor spring
crop, which currently appears un-
likely, no new import commitments
are expected before mid-1977.
An overall economic upturn, in
which the two good grain crops
have been a major factor, is
largely responsible for the calm
political atmosphere that has pre-
vailed in India since Prime Minis-
ter Indira Gandhi tightened her
hold over the government in mid-
1975. The absence of significant
public discontent has enabled
Gandhi to concentrate on restruc-
turing the government along au-
thoritarian lines and presumably
played a large part in her recent
decision to postpone national
elections for a second year, until
1978.
8
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,
Top Secret
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