CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/11/30

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03019012
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: November 30, 1954

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30 November 1954 3.5(c)
Copy No. 80
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOGMA EN I" NO 2c3
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 2010
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: thisa REVIEWER.
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
3.3(h)(2)
SECRETTOP
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. New Japanese political party leader pledges co-operation with US
(page 3).
2. Comment on passage of South Korean constitutional amendments
(page 3).
3. Peiping allocates large sums for dike repairs (page 4).
SOUTH ASIA
4. Indian government rejects privately owned steel plant financed by
Britain (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Comment on new Syrian broadcasts to North African nationalists
(page 5).
EASTERN EUROPE
6.
WESTERN EUROPE
7. Comment on results of West German state elections (page 7).
8. Paris makes conciliatory gesture toward Franco (page 7).
* * * *
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FAR EAST
1. New Japanese political party leader pledges co-operation with US:
Sinsuke Kishi, secretary general of Japan's
new Democratic Party, told an American
embassy officer on 25 November that his
party would apply about the same economic
and political qualifications as Yoshida has applied to establishment
of relations with Communist China or the USSR. Although the new
party leaders believe greater trade with the China mainland is pos-
sible, Kishi said they will not sacrifice their present trade with
the Chinese Nationalists for possible trade with the Chinese Commu-
nists.
Kishi stated that the Democrats will pro-
pose that the 1946 constitution be completely rewritten and will push
rearmament and anti-Communist legislation more vigorously than
Yoshida. The secretary general maintained, however, that all of
his party's policies were subordinate to United States-Japanese
co-operation, which would have to be the foundation for all Japa-
nese policies in the future.
Comment: Kishi, the real power behind
the new party, has not expressed pro-American sentiment, but
for the present favors Japanese co-operation with the United States.
If the Democrats do come to power, they will have to take into
consideration the increasing popular feeling in Japan for closer ties
with the Orbit, particularly Communist China.
2� Comment on passage of South Korean constitutional amendments:
The amendments to the South Korean con-
stitution passed in the legislature on
27 November further consolidate Presi-
dent Rhee's supremacy over the National
Assembly, substantially increase his independence in the conduct
of foreign policy and may add to the political instability in the
country by stimulating covert opposition to the present regime.
Technically the amendment lacked a frac-
tion of one vote of the two thirds necessary for passage, but the
administration ruled that the fraction would be disregarded.
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'MOW.
The new clauses permit popular refer-
enda on issues affecting "national sovereignty and territorial
changes," exempt Rhee from the ban on a third term, abolish the
prime minister's office and the system of cabinet responsibility,
and permit the vice president to fill out an unexpired term of a
president.
Opposition leaders consider that the
referendum amendment is the most dangerous, fearing that it
will be used by Rhee to manufacture a "people's will" movement
which will actually suppress popular desires and permit the presi-
dent to by-pass the legislature. It will further enhance Seoul's
ability to block any UN efforts at unification unacceptable to South
Korea.
While the provisions for presidential
succession are ostensibly clarified, the government's highhanded
interpretation of the assembly's vote may increase the confusion
anticipated at Ithee's death, as opposition leaders may seek to
nullify the changes on the grounds the amendments were adopted
illegally.
3. Peiping allocates large sums for dike repairs:
The Chinese Communist Ministry of Water
Conservancy has earmarked the equivalent
of $84,495,000 to repair dikes' in flood-
stricken areas, mostly in Central China,
according to the Peiping People's Daily
on November. e work involves an estimated 15,000 miles of
dikes and 300,000,000 cubic meters of earthwork. The American
consul general in Hong Kong believes that flood expenses will prove
an important dislocating factor in Communist China's 1954 budget.
Comment: Peiping has also admitted
that flood relief funds have t"�T-ra a-about $64,000,000. Total flood
costs, including damage to crops and houses, will probably exceed
one billion dollars.
The inability to plant winter crops in
undrained areas will cause a loss of from 2,000,000 to 2,500,000
tons in the crops to be harvested next June.
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SOUTH ASIA
4. Indian government rejects privately owned steel plant financed by
Britain:
The Indian government announced on
26 November that it had rejected the pro-
posal of B. M. Birla, Indian industrial-
ist, to build a privately owned steel plant
with British financing. The government stated, however, that the
British offer would be considered only on the basis of a state-
owned plant.
Comment: The rejection of the British
offer as a private venture does not imply that the recent Soviet
offer to construct a 300,000k1116-ton annual capacity steel mill in
India will be accepted. It does suggest that Nehru, despite his
recent public statements on India's need for rapid industrialization,
feels under no compulsion to move quickly on this issue which in-
volves his own political and economic philosophy.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Comment on new Syrian broadcasts to North African nationalists:
Radio Damascus has begun inflammatory
broadcasts to nationalists in Algeria,
Tunisia and Morocco. These programs
will probably provoke a protest from
France, which has blamed radio propa-
ganda emanating from Cairo and Buda-
pest for much of the unrest in North
Africa,
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6.
Radio Damascus, which follows Cairo in
espousing the cause of the North Africans
against the French "forces of imperialism,"
generally reflects local press and parliamentary opinion. The
Syrian parliament, goaded by a strong leftist minority, on 11 Novem-
ber passed a resolution of protest and authorized discussion with
other Arab states of a diplomatic, economic, and cultural boycott
of France.
The Syrian government, a weak coalition,
is capable of following only a strong Arab nationalist line. It is
therefore less susceptible to Western influence than the Egyptian
government, which has promised that Radio Cairo will taper off
on the North African question.
EASTERN EUROPE
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WESTERN EUROPE
7. Comment on results of West German state elections:
The results of the 28 November state
elections in Bavaria and Hesse strengthen
Chancellor Adenauer's domestic political
position and the prospects for West German ratification of the Paris
agreements. The Christian Democrats have established a clearly
dominant position in Bavaria, and have sufficiently improved their
standing in Hesse to raise the possibility of replacing the Social
Democratic government there with a coalition.
Domestic issues played a large part in
the balloting, but it seems clear that the Social Democrats and
some of Adenauer's coalition partners failed in their concerted ef-
fort to administer a sharp rebuke to his policy on the Saar. In
particular, the coalition Free Democratic Party, which has been
especially vocal in its opposition to the Saar agreement, lost heav-
ily in Hesse and failed to improve its standing in Bavaria.
8. Paris makes conciliatory gesture toward Franco:
The new French ambassador to Spain has
been instructed to tell General Franco
that France will not object if Spain desires
to join NATO or otherwise "become more
c ose y assoc a e arrangements for Western European de-
fense," according to the counselor of the French embassy in Madrid.
The counselor, who commented to the American embassy that this
was "a very important step for Mendes-France to take," said he
hoped this would convince Spaniards of the sincerity of France's
desire for improved relations.
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Comment: The timing of this move
suggests that Mendes-France may be trying to stem the anti-
French agitation in French North Africa emanating from Spanish
Morocco.
Spain has expressed a desire for closer
association with Western defense arrangements, but is much more
interested in settling outstanding French-Spanish differences.
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