CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/11/18

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02996969
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: November 18, 1955

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18 November 1955 � 3.5(c)
Copy No. 100
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO
NC CHANGE IN CLASS.
L DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 80/0
AUTH: HR 70-2
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DATE:_vr__
**VIEWER: _
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
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CONTENTS
1. TOP-LEVEL STAFF TO ACCOMPANY SOVIET LEADERS
ON TRIP TO SOUTH ASIA (page 3).
2. NEW JAPANESE GOVERNMENT'S PROGRAM (page 4).
3. PEIPING MAY BE SEEKING IMPROVED RELATIONS WITH
THAI GOVERNMENT (page 5).
4. SOUTH VIETNAM DESIRES FORMAL ASSOCIATION WITH
SEATO (page 6).
5. BURMESE CABINET MINISTER CONCERNED OVER
INCREASING ECONOMIC TIES WITH SOVIET BLOC (page 7).
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 8)
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� 1. TOP-LEVEL STAFF TO ACCOMPANY SOVIET LEADERS
ON TRIP TO SOUTH ASIA
On their trip to India, Burma, and
Afghanistan, Premier Bulganin and
Party Secretary Khrushchev will be
accompanied by a high-level staff spe-
cializing in cultural relations, foreign
trade, and agriculture.
this staff will
include Minister of Culture N. A. Mikhailov, First Deputy
Foreign Minister A. A. Gromyko, Deputy Foreign Trade
Minister P. M. Kumykin, and Head of the Committee of
State Security (KGB) I. A. Serov. Two other members of
the group are D. R. Rasulov,, deputy minister of agricul-
ture, and Madame Z. R. Rakhimbabayeva, first deputy min-
ister of culture, of the Uzbek Republic, who are from Soviet
Central Asia.
Gromyko has attended most of the top
Soviet diplomatic conferences during the past year, includ-
ing the summit meeting at Geneva and the Belgrade discus-
sions. Mikhailov was party secretary in Moscow and later
ambassador to Poland before being appointed minister of
culture soon after Malenkov's demotion.
General Serov will be in charge of
security for the Soviet leaders, as he was at the summit
conference and reportedly at Belgrade. Kumykin, the
foreign trade deputy, was also included in the delegation
to Belgrade.
18 Nov 55
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2. NEW JAPANESE GOVERNMENT'S PROGRAM
The American embassy in Tokyo be-
lieves that the new Japanese govern-
ment�to be formed about 21 November
by Premier Hatoyama from former
Liberal and Democratic members of the new conservative
party--is not likely to stress such unpopular measures as
increased expenditures for defense, economic austerity,
and those which imply dependence on the United States.
The embassy notes, however, that with Hatoyama's power
to act independently now circumscribed by the new party's
collective leadership, there may be less flirtation with
the Sino-Soviet Orbit.
The government is expected to concen-
trate on improving its domestic position, with the aim of
gaining the few votes necessary to preclude a Socialist veto
in the Diet on any revision of the constitution. To this end,
it will use its Diet majority to revise election laws so as
to hamper the Socialists, institute a popular welfare pro-
gram, and then call for a new election.
The embassy believes that while the
conservative union will in the beginning be frail and uneasy,
the Socialist threat will hold the alliance together long enough
for the conservatives to achieve their goals.
Comment The desire to place economic stability
ahead of defense, and to encourage in-
creased contacts with Communist China, cuts across all
political factions in Japan, and no drastic change in these
policies is likely. Security legislation previously rejected
by the Diet may now be passed, however, including anti-
subversive measures and bills creating a Defense Ministry,
a National Defense Council, and a constitutional revision
committee.
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