CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/06/01

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03194461
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: June 1, 1955

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1 June 1955
Copy No. 94
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. 4.7
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AUTH: HA 70-2
DATE: -9/1/80.. REVIEWER: _
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
1. Rhee orders propaganda support for talks with US (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Soviet ambassador in Peiping inquires about Burmese rice (page 4).
WESTERN EUROPE
3. French see USSR using trade to press for German neutralization
(page 4).
* * * *
4. Yugoslav vice president Kardelj believes USSR will make conces-
sions to relax tensions (page 5)0
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FAR EAST
1. Rhee orders propaganda support for talks with US:
President Rhee has ordered
his diplomatic representatives in Wash-
ington, New York, and Tokyo to "take
steps to promulgate widely" the Korean position in the forthcoming
US-South Korean negotiations.
The missions were instructed to agitate
for increased South Korean military forces or the withdrawal of
the UN Command, a fixed exchange rate, a major share of Asian
aid, and termination of the armistice, They were also told to
support the Korean position against Japan.
Comment: The withdrawal of the South
Korean U11111J111411l; 1111bsion from Japan reportedly was the subject
of an inconclusive four-hour meeting of top South Korean military
and political leaders on 30 May. Withdrawal of the mission would
dramatize Rhee's opposition to building up Japan as the anti-
Communist bastion in the Far East,
A South Korean economic-military mis-
sion is now en route to the United States for discussions. Rhee
has already launched a press attack against the United States and
Japan, promoted demonstrations before the American embassy,
and organized anti-Japanese rallies,
These activities are reminiscent of those
conducted during the protracted aid negotiations last year.
He is also expected to demand a "permanent" exchange rate of
about 350 hwan to the dollar, against a realistic rate of about 600-1,
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Soviet ambassador in Peiping inquires about Burmese rice:
e agr emen
a rice deal between
pArma and the USSR could be effected
4vithout the prior� conclusion of a general
Comment: The Burmese trade mission
which went to Moscow last winter to conclude a rice deal was deeply
offended by what it regarded as shabby treatment and broke off ne-
gotiations in January.
Peiping, on the other hand, has gained
good will as well as a toe hold in Burma's economy by its well-
timed purchases of a substantial quantity of rice. This message
suggests that the USSR may be now willing to accept Burmese
terms in the interest of promoting its influence in Burma.
WESTERN EUROPE
3. French see USSR using trade to press for German neutralization:
French officials in Moscow and Paris fear
the USSR will switch trade and ship-
construction contracts from France to
West Germany as part of a policy designed
to neutralize Germany.
The French economic counselor in Moscow
recently discussed with Soviet trade officials the failure of the USSR
to show an interest in concluding contracts for ten ships included in
the 1954 French-Soviet trade agreement. He was told that the USSR
was now interested only in ships capable of 17.5 knots and that "other
Western countries" were willing to furnish vessels of this speed.
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Comment: The reported Soviet position
may be a tactic similar to those used in the past when a COCOM
country has refused to furnish embargoed items. COCOM restric-
tions on ship exports are still under review, and the USSR may
hope to increase the dissension on this issue among COCOM mem-
bers.
Some French officials are becoming in-
creasingly skeptical about the possibility of expanding trade with
the USSR and are expected to seek an explanation for the abrupt
decline in Soviet orders since December 1954. At that time Paris
had feared the decline was Soviet retaliation for the Paris agree-
ments, but a general drop in Soviet imports from the West has
since become apparent.
The USSR's own economic situation per-
mits it to make only limited trade offers in Western Europe. It
probably believes that it must now seek to achieve its foreign
policy objectives more through West Germany than France. (Con-
curred in by ORR)
4. Yugoslav vice president Kardelj believes USSR will make conces-
sions to relax tensions:
Yugoslav vice president Kardelj
expects some positive results from
the present meeting of Soviet and Yugo-
say ince e is convinced the Soviet leaders really want
peace, he believes the Big Four meeting may likewise lead to a
relaxation of tension. He said the road would be long and hard
but eventually the USSR would make concessions.
From discussions to date, Kardelj thinks
the USSR will not press for the neutralization of Germany or for a
belt of buffer states, but for some progress with Molotov's Euro-
pean security plan.
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