CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/09/11

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03178367
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: September 11, 1956

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CURRENT
/ INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
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11 September 1956
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Copy No.
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
1. MOSCOW rERMS US CONTrOL OF PANAMA CANAL
ILLEGAL ) (page 3).
2. NEHRU ADVISES CAUTION IN SINO-BURMESE BORDER
DISPUTE (page 4).
3. CHOU EN-LAI REPORTEDLY PLANS SWING THROUGH
SOUTHERN ASIA (page 5).
4. COMMUNIST CHINA BUILDS FIRST JET PLANES
(page 6).
5. RUMORED PURGE OF NUMBER- TWO CHINESE COMMU-
NIST LEADER (Top Secret Eider) (page 7).
6. HUSSAIN MAY POSTPONE JORDANIAN ELECTIONS
(page 8).
11 Sept 56
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 9)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
TOP SECRET
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TOP-SECRET
I. MOSCOW TERMS US CONTROL OF PANAMA
CANAL ILLEGAL
A long Izvestia article on 7 September
quoting the authoritative Soviet publi-
cation International Affairs argues that
the Republic of Panama is the proper
owner of the Panama Canal and states
that American "pretentions" that the
canal is an American waterway are
"illegal:' The article refuses to ac-
cept the distinctions made by Secretary
Dulles on 28 August, between Panama
and Suez nationalization, and compares
the Panama Canal with American bases
in Britain� Moscow broadcast a sum-
mary of the article to Latin America.
Before the London conference, the USSR
in commenting on Suez on several occasions referred to the
Panama Canal and other international waterways as proper
subjects for internationalization, but during and since the con-
ference has made few references to other waterways.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
Tnp SVCRFT
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2. NEHRU ADVISES CAUTION IN SINO-BURMESE
BORDER DISPUTE
Comment
Burma, which has been attempting to
line up international support for its posi-
tion in the border dispute with China, was doubtless counting
heavily on India to be its chief source of moral and material
assistance. Nehru's equivocation could weaken Prime Minis-
ter Ba Swe's determination to maintain an uncompromising
stand in subsequent negotiations with Peiping regarding the bor-
der problem.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
TOP SECRET
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3. CHOU EN-LAI REPORTEDLY PLANS SWING THROUGH
SOUTHERN ASIA
Chinese Communist premier Chou En-
lai will visit North Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia, Burma, India and possibl
Nepal in November and December,
the tour may be ex-
tended to include Indonesia, Ceylon, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Comment
The Chinese have been working steadily for better relations
with the other countries on Chou's reported itinerary,
His extended trip would provide an oppor-
tunity to deal with a number of problems in southern Asia.
Outstanding among these is the current border dispute with
Burma, which has produced an unfavorable reaction through-
out the area.
Chou will probably also seek to reduce
Indonesian dissatisfaction with some provisions of the dual
nationality treaty negotiated last year and will attempt to cap-
italize on recent Chinese Communist efforts to establish closer
ties with Laos and Cambodia.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
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4. COMMUNIST CHINA BUILDS FIRST JET PLANES
Peiping radio announced on 8 September
production "on an experimental basis" of
its first jet planes. The Chinese claim
with the assistance of Soviet experts to
have completed trial production of a
"new type of jet aircraft" 17 months ahead of schedule. Mass
production is to follow "soon:'
Comment
An all-out program with Soviet support
has been under way since 1955 or earlier.
The new aircraft plant which reportedly has recently been
completed at Mukden will probably be the site for future se-
ries production of jet aircraft.
Final assembly of the air frames was
probably accomplished by the Chinese from Soviet subassem-
blies. The test aircraft are undoubtedly equipped with Soviet
electronics gear, instruments and other components. The
jet engines, however, may have been mainly of Chinese man-
ufacture, since Peiping announced last June that it had suc-
ceeded in the "trial production" of jet engines.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 6
SECRET
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5. RUMORED PURGE OF NUMBER-TWO CHINESE
COMMUNIST LEADER
Chinese Nationalist newspapers have be-
gun speculating that Liu Shao-chi, Mao
Tse-tung's principal lieutenant in the
Chinese Communist hierarchy since 1945,
has been purged. not-
ing Liuts absence from public functions since 5 August, sur-
mise that the purge will be announced at the 8th Congress
of the Chinese Communist Party, scheduled to open in Pei-
ping on 15 September.
Maneuvering among Mao's lieutenants for
the top positions in a "collective leadership" may well have
begun, and there is an outside chance that Lieu has already
lost out. His five-week absence, however, is not excessively
long for a Chinese Communist official. It can logically be
explained by the press of business immediately prior to the
opening of the party congress, in which he is expected to
play a major role.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7
TOP SECRET
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SECRET
Nur
6. HUSSAIN MAY POSTPONE JORDANIAN ELECTIONS
has decided, on the
basis of discussions with security
officials; to postpone indefinitely
Jordan's lower house elec innm nnw
scheduled for 21 October,
The king also reportedly
plans to suspend all licensed polit-
ical parties.
Although unconfirmed,
recent indications that the king
ana government are increasingly concerned over the
prospect of ultranationalist gains in the elections. The
this concern has also
been expressed by a growing body of moderates.
Comment The pretexts for postponement of
the elections would presumably be the
� Suez crisis and the critical situation on Jordan's border
with Israel.
Preliminary indications suggest that
elections for the 40 seats in Jordan's lower house, if held,
would increase anti-Western influence in Jordan's' legis-
lature and possibly encourage antimonarchtal elements.
Instability would also be increased,
however, if Hussain were to postpone elections, since the
elections are particularly desired by most political leaders
in West Jordan, the recently annexed Palestinian territory,
which has over half of Jordan's population.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
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THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 10 September)
Jordan charged that an Israeli military force,
estimated at 100 men, penetrated 200 yards into Jordan on the
morning of 10 September and opened fire on Arab farmers and a
Jordan National Guard patrol about 22 miles southwest of Jeru-
salem. Jordan claims that after exchanging fire for one and one
half hours, the Israelis withdrew leaving six dead in Jordan.
Jordan admitted one man wounded. Subsequently a spokesman
for the UN truce supervisory organization stated that two Israeli
Soldiers were missing and one wounded as a result of the clash.
Infiltrators, meanwhile, dynamited a sec-
tion of the Tel Aviv-Beersheba rail line in southern Israel, 12
and one half miles north of Beersheba, on the night of 9-10 Sep-
tember. This is the first such incident in several months. Tracks
of the infiltrators were lost inside Israel and the location of the
incident is such that they could have come from either Egyptian
or Jordanian territory.
11 Sept 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
CONFIDENTIAL
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