CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/02/13

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02623667
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: May 24, 2019
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2019
• Publication Date: February 13, 1952

Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2623667
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SEC INFORMATION
13 February 1952
Copy No. 047
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
I DECLASSIFIED
2 ... ..__................._:�104.
CLASS. CHANGED TO: IS 244
NEXT REVIEW DATE'
AUT � HR
DATE
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOPS
SECURITYPORMATION
REVIEWER:
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Two British-flag vessels offered for charter to Chinese Communists
@age 3).
2. Vietnamese Government reportedly bankrupt (page 3).
3. Chief of US military mission reviews Tonkin military situation
(page 4).
4. King of Thailand threatens abdication (page 4).
NEAR EAST- AFRICA
5. Existence of Egyptian Cabinet depends on solution to Anglo-Egyptian
dispute (page 5).
EASTERN EUROPE
6. Rumania receives Soviet order for aviation gasoline (page 6).
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FAR EAST
1. Two British-flag vessels offered for charter to Chinese Communists:
Two British-flag vessels were offered for
three-mnnth rharter tn the Chinese Commu-
nists
The vessels would operate between Japan
and the Chinese mainland.
Comment: The British Government has
been unwilling to follow the US and Panamanian lead in barring its
merchant ships from the China trade. Accordingly, British-flag
ships, many operating under charter to the Chinese or to the East
European Satellites, have been more active in this trade than those
of any other registry.
Last October a London firm asked its Hong
Kong correspondent to investigate the advantages of putting additional
British ships on the China run, in view of the reported loss of tonnage
resulting from the withdrawal of Panamanian ships.
2. Vietnamese Government reportedly bankrupt:
Vietnamese Premier Huu, at a cabinet
meeting announced
the bankruptcy of his government and its
consequent inability to meet civil and military
expenses for March 1952,
Comment: Despite the urging of French
and American officials, the Vietnamese Government has never pre-
pared a budget, and accurate assessment of its fiscal status is
therefore impossible.
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
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Since its creation the Vietnamese Government
has been obliged to resort to deficit financing which has been covered
regularly by advances from the French Treasury. However, Bao Dai
said on 28 Sanuary that the French had not promised to meet expected
deficits in 1952 arising from military expenditures and had been
threatening to cease other financial aid.
3. Chief of US military mission reviews Tonkin military situation:
The Chief of the US military mission in
Indochina, General Brink, who has just
returned from Hanoi, estimates that the
"strictly military" situation in Tonkin is
not as alarming as has been pictured by
some observers. He states, however, that the political situation
and the loyalty of the population are uncertain and that this could
well neutralize the military effort.
General Brink believes that the Tonkin
delta can be defended, albeit with some difficulty. On the other
hand, he sees a growing threat to the main communication line
between Hanoi and Haiphong. In addition, French troop strength
is inadequate to meet any new Viet Minh attacks on the defense
perimeter and simultaneously to prevent infiltration of the delta.
4. King of Thailand threatens abdication:
The King of Thailand reportedly is threaten-
ing abdication in protest against the usur-
pation of his powers by the military clique
which controls the government. The Chief
of the Thai Air Force, states that
Thailand would become a republic if the King does not accept the
1932 Constitution as amended.
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3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
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Comment: Other reports indicate that the
King is using the threat of abdication as a weapon in his controversy
with government leaders over his constitutional powers and probably
has no real intent of stepping down. Although veneration of the
monarchy is widespread in Thailand, no effectively organized force
has yet come forward to support the King in his struggle with the
military leaders.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Existence of Egyptian Cabinet depends on solution to Anglo-Egyptian
dispute:
Amr Pasha, recently Egypt's Ambassador
to London and now political adviser to King
Farouk, believes that the government of
Prime Minister Ali Maher will not last
long unless progress is made toward solution of the Anglo-Egyptian
dispute. He insists that discussions regarding the proposed Middle
East Command will be in vain if Great Britain fails to recognize
Farouk as King of the Sudan.
According to the American Ambassador in
Cairo, while Amr Pasha recognizes social reform as the only ade-
quate weapon against the spread of Communism in Egypt, he believes
that reform in Egypt will not be possible until a solution of the Anglo-
Egyptian problem is found.
3.3(h)(2)
Comment: 3.3(h)(2)
there is no indication that Britain is prepared
to recognize the title recently assumed by King Farouk.
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EASTERN EUROPE
6. Rumania receives Soviet order for aviation gasoline:
Rumanian officials in Moscow have requested
the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Bucharest
to examine the possibilities of fulfilling during
1952 a new order for 20,000 tons of high-test
95-octane aviation gasoline. The trade officials
explained that this amount is "over and above the quantity of 70-octane
aviation gasoline communicated by Minister Barladeanu:'
Comment: This is the first direct reference
to Rumanian production and export of high-octane aviation gasoline and
may be an indication that Moscow is shifting to Rumania part of the
burden of aviation gasoline production. The small quantity involved
suggests that actual production may not yet have begun, although there
have been reports of planned installation of catalytic cracking equipment
in Rumania.
�
Foreign Trade Minister Barladeanu is heading
a trade delegation to Moscow. In December another trade official in
Moscow advised Bucharest to request more ethyl fluid from the USSR
in order to ethylate 120,000 tons of gasoline for export.
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