CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/12/31

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03009194
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: December 31, 1954

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31 December 1954
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
/F#
/72
/".A
7
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
F. I DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: "�C) /
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: _74/8_(:). FtEnWgR:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
W/7/47/04
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Japanese anticipate move by USSR to terminate state of war
(page 3),
2. USSR tempts Burma to accept aid (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. Viet Minh prepares for mass anti-American demonstration
(page 4).
4. Viet Minh foreign minister voices lack of confidence in "the
East" (page 5).
SOUTH ASIA
5. India accepts "in principle" Soviet steel plant offer (page 6),
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
6.
* * * *
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Nue
GENERAL
1. Japanese anticipate move by USSR to terminate state of war:
Comment: Premier Malenkov may
choose New Year's Eve to make a statement to the Japanese peo-
ple such as Stalin did on 31 December 1951 in answer to a re-
quest of the Kyodo News Agency. This year Asahi� the leading
independent Japanese newspaper, may have sent Malenkov a
series of questions, just as it has submitted five questions to
President Eisenhower, with a request for answers in time for
publication in its New Year's edition.
While Poland, like the USSR, rejected
the San Francisco treaty, it did not actively engage in hostilities
with Japan during World War II, and the USSR may now be using
Poland to test Japanese reactions prior to further Moscow over-
tures.
2. USSR tempts Burma to accept aid:
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Comment: At his press conference in
Peiping on 11 December, U Nu expressed the hope that trade with
the USSR could be expanded. The cordial contacts made to date
probably will lead to Soviet offers of economic and technical assist-
ance such as those made to Afghanistan and India during the past
year.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. Viet Minh prepares for mass anti-American demonstration:
A large demonstration occurred in Hanoi
on 27 December which was apparently
the dress rehearsal for a mass protest
against "American imperialism" proba-
bly scheduled for 1 January. The American consul reports that
the participants, numbering several thousand, appeared apathetic
and did not react to the sight of the American flag displayed on
his automobile.
Comment: The Viet Minh has recently
intensified its anti-American campaign. Children b publications
have encouraged their readers to "hate American aggressors."
A Hanoi newspaper reported on 25 December that more than
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20,000 people in Hanoi suburbs had participated in 75 meetings to
protest "American imperialism."
A large-scale "spontaneous" demonstra-
tion in the new "Red Square" in Hanoi would be the regime's most
vigorous expression of its anti--American campaign thus far, and
would serve the additional purpose of impressing the citizens of
Hanoi with the degree of popular support the Viet Minh can muster.
4. Viet Minh foreign minister voices lack of confidence in "the East":
Viet Minh foreign minister Phan Van
Dong told
that while he did
not understand India's ties with the West,
neither did he have "entire confidence in the East,"
In relating this conversation to the
American consul in Hanoi, contrasted Dong's
"sensible" attitude with Ho CM Minh's complete devotion to Corn-
munism. He also described the interest of Viet Minh officials in
Western culture and institutions, as evidenced by their requests
for reading matter on these subjects.
Comment: Dong is a member of a
cultured "mandarin" famiTT.Tiialrarticipated in Vietnamese nation-
alist activity in the pre-Communist period of the twenties. He was
one of the first Vietnamese to become .a Communist, and has been
a close collaborator of Ho Chi Minh for three decades. He is the
Viet Minh's most skillful diplomatist, and as such is capable of
striking a convincing "national Communist" posture.
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Nor
SOUTH ASIA
5. India accepts "in principle" Soviet steel plant offer:
6.
India has accepted "in principle" a
Soviet offer to set up a steel plant with
a 1,000,000-ton annual capacity, accord-
ing to a Reuters report. Indian officials will meet Soviet experts
this week to negotiate an agreement, but final agreement on all
points is likely to take some time.
Comment: Since Indian officials have
said that India will seek at least to quadruple its present steel
production of about 1,000,000 tons a year, acceptance "in princi-
ple" of the Soviet offer does not close the door on other projects
�to expand production by utilizing British or American resources.
New Delhi is in-
creasingly reluctant to approve large-scale projects originated
by private enterprise.
The Soviet negotiators have consistently
avoided detailed discussion of technical points, but will have to
give Indian experts satisfaction on these points if follow-up nego-
tiations are to succeed. the Soviet
plant would have an annual capacity of only 300,000 tons and
would not make as many types of steel products as the Indians
desired.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
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