CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/05/01

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02995613
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: May 1, 1956

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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
-77:TP-SifeRE-
1 May 1956
Copy No.
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OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
1. CHINESE NATIONALIST PATROLS SEARCH FOR SOVIET
VESSELS NEAR TAIWAN1 (page 3).
2. ARREST OF ARAP.; LEGION OFFICERS PRESAGES NEW
UNREST IN JORDAN (page 4).
3. NORTH KOREAN PARTY CONGRESS REAFFIRMS KIM
IL-SUNG'S POWERS (page 5).
4. JAPAN PLANS TO EXHIBIT EMBARGOED GOODS AT
CHINA TRADE FAIRS (page 6).
5. INDIA TO SEND 500 ENGINEERS TO USSR FOR TRAINING
(page 7).
1 May 56
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
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1. CHINESE NATIONALIST PATROLS SEARCH FOR
SOVIET VESSELS NEAR TAIWAN
Ch ese Nationalist air and naval
units are now searching waters
south and east of Taiwan for a
Soviet tanker and cargo ship be-
lieved by /the Ministry of National Defense to be en route
from Sin pore to Tientsin. Air Force planes made a
"near maximum" search effort on 29 and 30 April. Three
Nationalist naval vessels are on patrol with orders to
"identify and inquire destination," but their captains have
been cautioned not to shoot. Two Nationalist destroyers
are standing by on harbor alert.
Nationalist defense minister Yu
Ta-wei has assured the US Taiwan Defense Command he
will "exert his best influence to avoid any untoward in-
cident."
Comment Two Soviet ships left Singapore
last week bound north via the
South China sea and may now be near Taiwan. If Nation-
alist patrols sight these vessels they may detain them,
despite the defense ministers assurances. (Concurred
in by ORR)
1 May 56
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2. ARREST OF ARAB LEGION OFFICERS PRESAGES
NEW UNREST IN JORDAN
The recent arrest of a group of
prominent Arab Legion officers on
grounds of treason could, accord-
ing to the American embassy in
Amman, presage a development of
internal thfficulti so severe as to lead eventually to
removal of the king.
Nine Legion officers are reported
to have been arrested between 21 and 24 April, and
further arrests, Within the pro-Iraqi faction, may have
occurred. Most prominent of those arrested is Lieu-
tenant Colonel Mahmoud Roussan, former military at-
tach 6 in Washington, and one of the originators of the
Free Officers' Movement. Following Glubb's removal
Roussan is reported to have attempted to organize a group
within the Legion to counter the clique controlled by Lieu-
tenant Colonel All Nuwar, anti-Western former aide-de-
camp to the king and the Legion's assistant chief of staff
for operations.
The embassy comments that Nuwar
may be exploiting the arrests in a flower nlav asrainst
Roussan's group.
Comment Israeli military spokesmen in Jerusa-
lem
that they had observed signs of a major crisis in the Le-
gion. Establishment of Nuwar's primacy in the Legion
would be followed by closer military relations with Egypt,
which King Hussain could not safely oppose.
1 May 56
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3. NORTH KOREAN PARTY CONGRESS REAFFIRMS KIM
IL-SUNG'S POWERS
(premier Kim Il-sung and Soviet-
oriented Koreans retained the most
important posts in the election of
the North Korean Communist Party central committee
on 29 April. Kim was re-elected chairman of the cen-
tral committee, and unlike leaders of the European Satel-
lite Communist parties, is concurrently premier and
commander in chief of the armed forces.
The USSR may regard a continuation
of Kim's powers as essential to stability in North Korea,
despite the statement of the chief Soviet delegate to the
congress, who called for the "firm establishment of...
collective leadership from top to bottom." No explicit
criticism of past policies of the party leadership oc-
curred at the congress. On the contrary, Kim 11-sung
stated at the closing session on 29 April that since 1948,
"all" the work implemented by the party's central com-
mittee was "entirely correct."
Two prominent Soviet-oriented
Koreans, Pak Chang-ok and Pak Yong-pin, who had pre-
viously been denounced in a party organ for "conspiring"
against party policy regarding literature and art, were
not mentioned in connection with the congress. Although
this tends to confirm the existence of factionalism among
the North Korean leadership, the party elections under-
score the dominance of Soviet-oriented Koreans over those
trained in China or locally.
1 May 56
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4. JAPAN PLANS TO EXHIBIT EMBARGOED GOODS AT
CHINA TRADE FAIRS
A Japanese Foreign Ministry official
told American embassy officials on
28 April that Tokyo felt "compelled
to authorize" the exhibition of em-
bargoed goods at Japanese trade fairs in Communist
China next fall. He cited the absence of uniform rules
and lack of agreement in CHINCOM on this subject. Re-
ferring to the French exhibition of strategic goods at the
recent Leipzig fair, he emphasized the difficulty his gov-
ernment would have defending its position domestically
if other nations should later exhibit embargoed goods in
Communist China. The official stated Japan's willingness
to abide by any uniform rules which CHINCOM might es-
tablish, but said early action was urgent since Japanese
businessmen had to begin preparations.
Comment Although there is no specific CHINCOM
prohibition against display of strategic
goods at trade fairs in Communist China, the Japanese deci-
sion is indicative of a general dissatisfaction among CHIN-
COM members concerning the strictness of the trade con-
trols applied against Peiping as compared to those against
the USSR and the European Satellites. (Concurred in by ORR)
1 May 56
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5, INDIA TO SEND 500 ENGINEERS TO USSR FOR TRAINING
India plans to send 500 engineers to the
Soviet Union to train for work in India's
three new steel plants, one of which is
being built by the USSR.
This will be the largest group from a
non-Communist country to receive Soviet technical train-
ing. India's acceptance of Soviet training for such a large
group is a prime achievement in Moscow's campaign to get
foreign technicians and students to study in the USSR.
About 700 additional Indian engineers
will be required for the two steels plants being constructed
by British and West German firms. New Delhi's contracts
with these firms call for the employment of the maximum
number of Indian personnel in the plants as well as the train-
ing of an adequate number of Indians in Britain and West
Germany. (Concurred in by ORR)
1 May 56
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 30 April)
Secretary General Hammarskj old told
UN officials in Beirut on 28 April that while he was satisfied
that neither side wished to precipitate hostilities, he felt that
there was little appreciation of the realities by either side and
no disposition at present to reach a settlement through com-
promise.
eaanese wreign minister Lanoua toia
Ambassador. Heath on 29 April that a cease-fire and the diver-
sion of the Jordan River waters were tied together and a com-
mitment must be sought from Israel not to divert the water
until an agreement for its use can be reached. Such use, Lahoud
stated, would not involve a formal accord between Israel and
the Arab states but would mean that the Arab states would com-
mence work on their side and in the demilitarized zone if neces-
sary, and Israel would independently undertake work on its side
and in the demilitarized zone. It would be hoped that at some
future time, if a modus vivendi could be reached, that storage
and use of water from Lake Tiberias could be put under inter-
national supervision. The foreign minister said that his pro-
posal would be supported by the Arab League and urged that
the United States press Israel to desist from diverting the water.
Six Vampire jet fighters with Syrian mark-
ings landed at Athens on 26 April to refuel after fling from Italy.
14 additional planes for Syria were expected to pass
through Athens shortly. Syria already has 19 jet fighters, and
is believed to have 36 MICi's on order from Czechoslovakia.
20 Syrian technicians left Syria for Egypt on 14 April
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for training in maintenance of MIG aircraft.
12 Syrian pilots have been training in MIG's in Egypt
for considerable time and that 14 more will go to Egypt before
1 May. pie)
The Egyptian freighter Misr, which ar-
rived at Latakia, in Syria, from Alexandria on 16 April, re-
portedly offloaded at least 100 tons of land mines and other
arms, presumably of Soviet bloc origin.
?
1 May 56
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