CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/02/18

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03161843
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: February 18, 1956

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TOP SECRET CO3161843 Approved for Release: 2019/10/21
CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
18 February 1956
Copy No. 103
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS Mr
DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO; TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 3- � t
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE:1g 17%. fir) REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c) /4
0
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CONTENTS
1. ECUADORAN OFFICIALS REPORTED ON ARMS
MISSION TO SOVIET BLOC
(page 3).
2. JAPANESE TO PLACE GREATER EMPHASIS ON
RELATIONS WITH PEIPING (page 4).
3. SOVIET JET HEAVY BOMBERS SIGHTED AT LONG
RANGE AIR FORCE BASE (page 5).
4. SOVIET OFFICIAL IN TOKYO REPORTEDLY HINTS
AT POSSIBLE RETURN OF KUNASHIRI
5. CHINESE COMMUNIST CIVIL AIR SERVICE SCHEDULED
TO RANGOON BY APRIL (page 7).
6. POLISH R SERVICE TO BE EXTENDED TO
EGYPT (page 8).
7. USSR AND COMMUNIST CHINA REPORTEDLY MOVE
TO EASE HUNGARIAN FOREIGN EXCHANGE CRISIS
(page 9).
8. TUNISIAN UPRISING REPORTED SCHEDULED FOR
MID-MARCH (page 10).
18 Feb 56
* * * *
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 11)
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1. ECUADORAN OFFICIALS REPORTED ON ARMS
MISSION TO SOVIET BLOC
Colonel Leonidas Hidalgo, Ecuadoran
armed forces territorial commander
now traveling through Western Europe
has been instructed
to include Soviet bloc countries in his
tour and to visit in particular Prague and Moscow, where
he will observe demonstrations of various weapons
Colonel Bolivar Pico Santos, Ecuadoran
air attach�n London, reportedly is also visiting European
countries on an official arms purchasing mission. The third
secretary of the Czech legation in Quito has arranged to have
him visit Prague and presumably also Moscow.
Comment The top Soviet diplomatic officials in
Mexico, who visited Ecuador last Decem-
ber, made "attractive" offers of arms on "easy" credit terms
to the Velasco government,
Arms negotiations between
Ecuador and Czechoslovakia have been under way for over a
year, but apparently no firm agreements have been reached to
date.
Ecuador has been engaged in an arms
race with Peru, and has turned to bloc countries for arms
and ammunition largely because of its inability to make pur-
chases elsewhere on the terms it desires.
(Concurred in by ORR)
18 Feb 56
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2. JAPANESE TO PLACE GREATER EMPHASIS ON
RELATIONS WITH PEIPING
Japanese diplomacy in the future
will place greater emphasis on re-
lations with Communist China, ac-
cording to a Japanese press report
of 14 February. The report asserted
that the Japanese Foreign Ministry
had concluded that Communist China
can no longer be ignored, that there
is no likelihood of an uprising to unseat the regime, and
that the Chinese people have the utmost trust and confi-
dence in Mao Tse-tung's government. A ministry official
has acknowledged that the story is an accurate version of
a ministry 'background study" which is not intended as a
policy paper.
Meanwhile, another ministry official
has informed the American embassy that he believes the
Taiwan government cannot exist under its present leader-
ship for more than two years, and that many Japanese of-
ficials are convinced some Nationalist leaders are nego-
tiating with the Communists for favorable surrender terms.
Comment This apparently deliberate leak of pro-
posed Japanese policy on Communist
China is strikingly similar to an earlier release of an of-
ficial paper which unfavorably compared American eco-
nomic aid policies to those of the USSR.
18 Feb 56
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3, SOVIET JET HEAVY BOMBERS SIGHTED AT
LONG RANGE AIR FORCE BASE
On 10 February Western air at-
taches observed five, possibly
six, BISON jet heavy bombers on
Bykhov airfield near Smolensk.
Two BISON or BADGER jet me-
dium bombers with wing-tip tanks were seen on the air-
field southwest of Orsha, also in the western USSR.
Comment
This is the first reported observa-
tion of jet heavy bombers at airfields
on which Long Range Air Force bomber units are based.
It is currently estimated that two bomber regiments of
the Long Range Air Force are equipped with a total of
38 BISONS and that more than 70 could have been produced
by 1 January 1956.
18 Feb 56
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4. SOVIET OFFICIAL IN TOKYO REPORTEDLY HINTS
AT POSSIBLE RETURN OF KUNASHIRI
According to a report passed on to
Prime Minister Hatoyama and the
Foreign Ministry, Andrei Domnitsky,
ffi-
cial Soviet mission
in Tokyo, has hinted
to Japanese fishing
interests that the
USSR might "under
certain circum-
stances" return
Kunashiri, one of
the southern Kurils,
but not Etorofu,
where there is a
major Soviet air
base. Domnitsky
also vaguely linked
the status of Etorofu
with that of the
Ryukyus and Bonin Islands.
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17 FEBRUARY 1956
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The embassy notes that Japanese resist-
ance to a compromise OD the territorial issue might col-
lapse in the face of this latest Soviet tactic.
Comment Soviet negotiator Malik's flat rejection
on 10 February of any further discus-
sions of Japanese territorial demands would seem to bar
further progress on this issue in the London talks. Domnit-
sky's reported feeler may be an attempt to suggest to the
Japanese that the USSR might be ready to make further ter-
ritorial concessions if diplomatic relations are established.
, Domnitsky's offer, if valid, would have
great attraction for the Japanese, since they have previously
suggested they would be willing to accept a status for the
southern Kurils similar to that under which the Ryukyus and
Bonins are administered by the United States.
18 Feb 56
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5. CHINESE COMMUNIST CIVIL AIR SERVICE
SCHEDULED TO RANGOON BY APRIL
Peiping has formally notified Burma
of its intention to begin scheduled
civil air service from Kunming to
Rangoon in April,
Comment A Sino-Burmese civil air agreement
was signed last November.
In view of China's greater resources
in trained personnel and equipment, it will have at least a
temporary monopoly on this line. The establishment of this
route places Communist China in a favorable position to ex-
tend air service in both South and Southeast Asia, particu-
larly to India, with which the Chinese are trying to conclude
an air agreement. (Prepared by ORR)
18 Feb 56
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6. POLISH CIVIL AIR SERVICE TO BE EXTENDED
TO EGYPT
Comment
According to a Warsaw broadcast of
15 February, an agreement was
signed in Cairo recently setting up
regular direct air services between
Warsaw and Cairo.
This would be the only Soviet bloc air
service to the Middle East and Africa.
Implementation of this agreement would
require Polish air rights in Greece. Athens will have no
basis for refusing these rights, since Poland and Greece are
signatories of the International Air Services Transit Agree-
ment, which grants reciprocal commercial overflight and
landing rights for refueling purposes. (Concurred
in by ORR)
18 Feb 56
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7. USSR AND COMMUNIST CHINA REPORTEDLY MOVE
TO EASE HUNGARIAN FOREIGN EXCHANGE CRISIS
The Soviet Union has canceled half
of the debt,of approximately $187,000,000
owed it by Hungary as payment for for-
mer German assets,
The USSR has also agreed to permit Hungary to suspend
for one year payment on a $2,500,000 loan.
an official
of the Hungarian National Bank, during a recent visit to Corn-
munist China, was able to arrange for a loan to Hungary of
$5 560 000 in pounds sterling from the Peiping government.
Comment
Despite this aid, Budapest's foreign ex-
change situation remains critical, and the Soviet Union may
be compelled to subsidize the Hungarian economy further by
a large, long-term loan. Prior to the reported cancellation,
Hungary owed the USSR $340,000,000 and Western countries
about $229,000,000. (Prepared jointly
with ORR)
18- Feb 56
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8. TUNISIAN UPRISING REPORTED SCHEDULED
FOR MID-MARCH
Nationalists will attack the French
in Tunisia in about a month,
The Tunisians now have enough
arms to equip 10,000 men. These arms have been sup-
plied by Egypt, mainly by desert caravan.
The Tunisians hope the unified com-
mand now being formed for nationalist forces in all of
French North Africa can direct uprisings in Morocco and
Algeria, simultaneously with the one in Tunisia: They
doubt, however, that this could be done within a month.
Comment
Tunisian extremist Salah ben Youssef,
who is believed to be in Tripoli at pres-
ent, probably is attempting to foment disorders in Tunisia
prior to the general elections scheduled for 25 March, A
Tunisian revolt on such a large scale, however, is not
likely at this time.
18 Feb 56
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 17 February)
Continuation of a small-scale selective
call-up by Israel of reserve personnel and vehicles has been
reported for the third successive day by the American mili-
tary attach�n Tel Aviv. The attach�elieves these actions
are precautionary against Egyptian troop movements in Sinai.
It is also possible that the call-up is part of normal training
procedure
A number of Syrian air force officers are
training in the use of MIG-15 jet fighters at Egyptian military
airfields,
this training is being given because of an agreement that in the
event of an Arab-Israeli war Syria will receive Soviet aircraft.
The American embassy in Damascus has
been informed that gasoline distributors in Syria have been
warned by the government that the entire output of 64 octane
fuel of the country's leading refinery is reserved for the Syrian
army for the remainder of February. The sources of this infor-
mation agree that the purpose of this move is to permit the army
to build up its gasoline reserves against a possible outbreak of
hostilities.
The Lebanese foreign minister told the Amer-
ican ambassador in Beirut on 13 February that no Arab government
could now support the Johnston plan for the development of the
Jordan river valley and remain in office. The foreign minister
urged that the United States give more consideration to the "Arab
plan," arguing that this might make the difference between war and
peace.
18 Feb 56
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