THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 29 DECEMBER 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006466935
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: December 29, 1976

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/19 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000400030007-1
The President's Daily Brief
December 29, 1976
2
Top Secret
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2016/07/19 : CIA-RDP79T00024A000400030007-1
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of EU 11652
exemption category 5B( I
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
December 29, 1976
Table of Contents
USSR - Middle East: The USSR is privately taking the line that
no alternatives to a resumption of the Geneva conference
should be considered, and that the US and the USSR, as co-
chairmen of the conference, must find a "common approach."
(Page 1)
China: The agricultural conference that closed on Monday served--
in the absence of a functioning central committee of the
Communist Party--as a forum in which to address major eco-
nomic and political issues. (Page 1)
Lebanon: Syrian pressure has apparently brought some movement on
the problem of collecting the heavy weapons of combatants in
Lebanon. (Page 3)
Note: Portugal (Page 5)
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
USSR - MIDDLE EAST:
The USSR is privately
taking the line that
in looking toward a
Middle East settlement,
no alternatives to a
resumption of the Ge-
neva conference should
be considered, and that
the US and the USSR,
as co-chairmen of the
conference, must find
a "common approach."
CHINA: The agricultural
conference that closed
on Monday served--in
the absence of a func-
tioning central com-
mittee of the Communist
Party--as a forum in
which to address major
economic and political
issues.
The chief of the Soviet Foreign
Ministry's Near East department,
M. D. Sytenko, in a conversation
with a US embassy official last
week, stressed the importance of
returning to the Geneva forum and
even tried to be flexible on the
question of Palestinian participa-
tion at the conference. He made
no reference, for example, to the
usual Soviet formula for Palestin-
ian participation in the confer-
ence on a "basis of full equality
and from the very beginning."
As far as the Soviets are con-
cerned, Geneva remains the only
possibility for Moscow to become
a major participant in the nego-
tiating process and a guarantor
of any eventual agreement. The
USSR also looks forward to using
Geneva as a means of neutralizing
the US advantage as sole spokesman
for Israel and of moving forward
on the Palestinian issue.
The Soviets have publicly rebuked
Egyptian media over the past sev-
eral weeks for emphasizing the US
role in the Arab-Israeli settle-
ment process. At the same time,
the Soviet press has condemned
Israel's proposal for a Helsinki-
type Middle East conference as a
"notorious initiative."
The conference, which began on
December 10, brought to Peking
over 5,000 agricultural special-
ists and local leaders.
From the economic standpoint, con-
ference speakers, led by Vice
Premier Chen Yung-kuei, reaffirmed
1
--continued
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Chairman Hua Kuo-feng's
speech dealt primarily
with political goals,
set apparently for
1977.
Hua's announcement that
local people's congresses
will be held next year
to reconstitute local
revolutionary commit-
tees--local government
organizations--suggests
that changes will be
numerous throughout
China.
key elements of the agricultural
modernization program announced
in late 1975. These include plans
to expand model agricultural areas,
increase farmland capital construc-
tion, and complete mechanization
of agriculture by 1980.
The attention given the conference
suggests that China's leaders are
banking on a successful agricul-
tural program as a spur to other
key sectors of the economy.
Foremost among these--apart from
continued criticism of the four
purged leftists--is the plan to
conduct a rectification campaign
in local leadership bodies. Hua
announced this campaign in 1975,
but it encountered stiff opposi-
tion from leftist leaders and was
the focus of many local disputes
this year.
The revived campaign--which will
review the qualifications of local
leaders and accordingly reeducate,
reassign, or fire them--is likely
to take into account the political
affiliation of local officials and
party members.
The revolutionary committees, es-
tablished at the end of the Cul-
tural Revolution, included many
leftists and have not been system-
atically reorganized since they
were created. Hua's charges that
leftists recruited party members
lacking proper qualifications im-
plies that even the lowest levels
of party organization will be af-
fected.
2
--continued
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620843
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
Changes in local party
organization will serve
as an important prelim-
inary to the reorgan-
ization of the party
central committee.
LEBANON: Syrian pres-
sure has apparently
brought some movement
on the problem of col-
lecting the heavy weap-
ons of combatants in
Lebanon.
25X1
* * *
the quadripartite committee
charged with overseeing the
truce--representatives of Syria,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait--
reached a compromise last week
whereby the Palestinians agreed
to collect their heavy weapons in
the south in specified areas.
The Palestinians would retain
actual control of their weapons,
but the Arab peacekeeping force
would guard the areas where the
arms are to be stored.
On December 27, a PLO official
publicly acknowledged the exis-
tence of an arms surrender agree-
ment. He stated that the leftists
would store their weapons near
Sidon where they would be jointly
guarded by leftist groups and the
Arab peacekeeping force. The Pal-
estinians, however, would store
their heavy weapons near the Is-
raeli border. This location would
avoid supervision by the largely
Syrian Arab peacekeeping force.
The Israelis have repeatedly stated
that they would tolerate no troops
along their northern border other
than regular Lebanese army forces.
--continued
3
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The Christians seem sure to balk
at surrendering their weapons as
long as the Palestinians retain
unsupervised stockpiles of arms.
Fighting continued in southern
Lebanon last week as Christians
sought to consolidate their hold
in areas near the Israeli border
before a final peace agreement is
reached. Clashes between pro-
Syrian and pro-Iraqi groups in
refugee camps near Beirut(
/7
* * *
--continued
4
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A behind-the-scenes
agreement between the
ruling Portuguese So-
cialist Party and the
conservative Social Dem-
ocratic Center appears
to have assured passage
of the government's
economic plan, vital in
stabilizing the coun-
try's faltering economy.
NOTE
Objectives of the plan are in-
creased national production and
reduced dependence on foreign im-
ports and financing.
An official of the Social Demo-
cratic Center yesterday gave de-
tails of the accord with the So-
cialists to US embassy officials.
The Social Democratic Center has
agreed to support Prime Minister
Soares in this week's assembly
balloting, in exchange for partic-
ipation in a coalition government
likely in 1977, the leading voice
in one of the state-owned news-
papers, and revision of that part
of the economic plan dealing with
the role of private enterprise.
The agreement extricates Soares
from what could have been a de-
cisive test of strength with the
parliamentary opposition.
5
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