CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/09/28

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03000916
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: September 28, 1954

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Copy No. 80
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO r
NO CHANGE IN CLASS
. DECLASSIFIED
(ASS CHANGED TO: TS S C
NExT !REVIEW DATE: 2- 0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE. I 74-141 ReVI4WER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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28 September 1954
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. South Korea sharply curtails currency advances to UN
Command (page 3).
2. Comment on election of Chinese Communist leaders (page 3),
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
4. Arabs increasingly see need for peace with Israel (page 5).
5. Comment on the Syrian elections (page 6).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Mendes-France launches anti-American press campaign (page 6).
7. French premier reported planning to take uncompromising stand
in London (page 7).
8.
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FAR EAST
1. South Korea sharply curtails currency advances to UN Command:
The Bank of Korea recently approved the
advance of only 100,000,000 hwan to the
deposit account of the United Nations
Command, in response to a request for
over one billion, according to the American embassy in Seoul.
The requested funds represented a six-week requirement for the
command
Comment: The action violates a July
1950 agreement between the Unita States and South Korea pro-
viding that South Korea should furnish requested currency and
credits to the UN Command for expenditures arising out of opera-
tions within Korea.
The South Korean finance minister in-
formed the UN commander on 16 September that after 1 October
no further hwan advances to American forces would be made ex-
cept on concurrent payment in dollars at the unrealistic rate of
180-1. This action, plus the curtailment of hwan advances, ap-
pears designed to strengthen Rhee's hand in negotiations now
under way with American authorities in Seoul on revision of the
exchange rate and settlement of hwan drawings. The United
States has made South Korea's acceptance of a realistic exchange
rate one of the prerequisites for future American aid.
2. Comment on election of Chinese Communist leaders:
The 1,210 delegates to the Chinese
Communist National People's Congress
meeting in Peiping on 27 September
elected to the four top posts in the government the four party
leaders who were expected to get them.
Mao Tse-tung, 60, chairman of the
regime for four more years, will almost certainly continue to
dominate the party and government, although his scope of activ-
ity may be reduced by ill-health. Chu Teh, 68, commander in
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chief of the armed forces and now the sole vice chairman of the
regime, will be Mao's formal successor in the event of the latter's
death or serious illness. Chu, it is believed, will have little real
power. The election of Liu Shao-chi, 54, as chairman of the pow-
erful Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, con-
firms that he holds a position second only to Mao. Chou En-lai,
56, will continue as premier, but under the new constitution will
have somewhat broader powers than he has had to date.
Selection of the 13 vice chairmen of the
Standing Committee shows a continued emphasis on the fiction of
the "united front" and participation by minority nationalities. The
seven vice chairmen of the corresponding organization under the
former system have been returned to office, with the exception of
Chu .Teh and Kao Kang, Kao, a politburo member and long the
regime's leader in the Northeast (Manchuria), has been out of the
news since January 1954, was not mentioned during the current
_conresandapearsdefinitelyobe out of favoi
SOUTHEAST ASIA
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NEAR EAST - AFRICA
Arabs increasingly see need for peace with Israel:
Responsible leaders in Jordan and other
nearby Arab states are showing increas-
ing realization that some settlement with
Israel should be made, according to
'Ambassador Mallory in Amman. He reports that many private
conversations have indicated this change and that public Arab re-
action to the recent British suggestion for peace talks has been
less violent than would have been true six months ago.
Mallory points out, however, that the
key to any peace talks is the Israeli attitude and foreign policy.
He warns that unless Israel shows some restraint in return for
the prospect of a peace settlement, it would be "useless for the
major powers to keep devising gimmicks and approaches" to the
problem.
Comment: Despite Israel's public
overtures this week to the Arab states, the Israelis do not ap-
pear willing to initiate a restrained border policy to the extent
necessary for obtaining Arab agreement for peace negotiations.
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5. Comment on the Syrian elections:
Returns from the Syrian elections
received thus far indicate that Syria
will have a civilian, conservative, pro-
Western government.
A large bloc of independents led by
former prime minister Khalid al Azm is running well ahead of
ex-president Shukri Quwatli's Nationalist Party. Conservatives
are being returned in large numbers, although the election of
two Communists and several other radicals indicates increased
leftist strength. The very fact that the elections were held--after
several postponements and despite considerable violence�lays
to rest at least temporarily the threat of an open return to power
of the military.
By his election Khalid Bakdash, the
leading Communist in the Arab world, acquires considerable
public stature throughout the area. His presence in Parliament
will add weight to the anti-Westernism in Syria.
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Mendes-France launches anti-American press campaign:
Premier Mendes- France has launched a
press campaign claiming that the Ameri-
can government and particularly Secre-
tary of State Dulles are attempting to
overthrow his government. Ambassador Dillon in Paris comments
that this campaign is in preparation for the difficulties the premier
will face when parliament reconvenes. Mendes-France is seek-
ing to rally national feeling to his side as successfully as he did
after the Brussels conference.
Comment: This press campaign tends
to confirm suspicions that the premier wishes the London talks
to fail. Mendes-France, who has indicated concern over the
growing political opposition to him in the National Assembly, ap-
parently intends to remain in power by any means.
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The semiofficial French Press Agency
is being reorganized, reportedly to reflect a progovernment
orientation. The reported director-designate is Jean Mann, a
conservative Gaullist and pro-American but also a close friend
of Interior Minister Mitterrand, who is now under fire for alleged
Communist sympathies.
7. French premier reported planning to take uncompromising stand
in London:
Premier Mendes-France will
deliberately take an unacceptable stand at the London conference
on German rearmament. Then, if the United States urges West
Germany to rearm, France expects to join Great Britain, the
Scandinavian countries, Yugoslavia and the German Socialists in
demanding a new East-West four-power conference. By that time
the French allegedly hope that the American elections will have
forced a modification of American foreign policy.
survey of
West German opinion, allegedly ordered by Mendes-France, which
purported to show public support for a policy of reunification and
temporary neutralization of Germany. France would propose this
program at the four-power conference.
Comment: Although Mendes- France
has repeatedly stated that the London conference must not be
"another Brussels," his latest proposals may have the effect of
making it so. His reported suggestion that Britain be included
in an organization having many of the supranational features of
EDC will probably be unacceptable to the British.
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