CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/06/07

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03194470
• 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 7, 1955

Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470,
CRET
re??,11V
7 June 1955
Copy No. 94
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
LI DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: x-/'40 /
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: -9//..A5Y2 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
r/ TOP SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17
1F/
C-,2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
co v470/ A
orv-vracor
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
*Ise 4Rre
SUMMARY
GENERAL
1, Soviet foreign trade agencies to be set up at Hanoi and Peiping
(page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Comment on current railway construction in East China (page 3).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. Cambodian internal security situation worsens (page 4).
EASTERN EUROPE
4. Ambassador Riddleberger believes conference may have widened
gap between Yugoslavia and USSR (page 6).
5. Western experts comment on implications of Soviet-Tito talks
(page 6).
6. Soviet moves raise hopes among Satellite people for improved
domestic situation (page 7).
7 June 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 2
D PP PT
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
prtn erporrr
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
GENERAL
1. Soviet foreign trade agencies to be set up at Hanoi and Peiping:
Comment:
the Soviet Union and the Viet Minh have negotiated an agreement
providing for 300,000,000 rubles ($75,000,000 at the official rate
of exchange) worth of Soviet aid in goods and technical assistance.
A trade agreement between the two countries is also to be signed,
although the volume of Viet Minh exports in the immediate future
N;Vill be small.
the Soviet-Viet Minh negotiations in Moscow
reveal confusion an inadequate preparation on the Viet Minh side,
suggesting that a large measure of Soviet and Communist Chinese
economic guidance will be required to ensure reasonable success
of the aid program.
FAR EAST
2. Comment on current railway construction in East China:
he transfer of the 11th Railway Con-
truction Division from South China to
ast China suggests an intensification
f the railway construction program in
Fukien Province, opposite the Nationalist-
eld offshore islands and Formosa. With
he addition of this division the comple-
ion date for this project, which had been
stimated to be early 1956, will be ad-
anced.
at-7-71
7 June CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 3
rriro
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
TrID creeicrrr
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
*ow Nio
On 24 May an element of this division
was addressed at Sha Hsien (see map, p. 5), tending to confirm
a report that a regiment of the division was located at nearby San
Yuen in late May.
The 11th Division is evidently the second
to be transferred from South China during May, as the 10th Rail-
way Construction Division was addressed at Foochow in a 10 May
message. A total of four railway construction divisions may now
be located along the proj ected Kueichi-Nanping-Foochow and Nanping-
Amoy rail routes.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
3. Cambodian internal security situation worsens:
Ambassador McClintock in Phnom Penh
expresses concern over the worsening of
the internal security situation in Cambodia
during recent weeks. Royal councilor
d reports of a large rise in banditry and
admitted that deserters from the army were partly responsible.
According to the French high commis-
sioner, the increase in g.rmy desertions has been caused by the
extortion practiced by army officers, who lately have increased
the amount of personal "squeeze" they exact from troop pay.
Comment: Brigandage has been most
prevalent in western Cambodia, Where small roving groups of
professional outlaws have made many routes unsafe for travel.
Provincial officials reportedly have received little help from the
central government in combating these bands.
Members of the former rebel groups which
were integrated into the royal army after the Geneva cease-fire
have been dissatisfied at -Peeiving lowpr nay than the regular
troops and have deserted.
7 June 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 4 -
�TER SFCR FT
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
P'D c.vertre'cl
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
'Noe
CHINA�FORMOSA SITUATION
Nautical miles
Statute miles 0
50
100
1
4 o 150
150
CURRENT RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION IN EAST CHINA
-4- -4- -I- -I-
Selected Road
Selected Railroad
Projected Railroad
\-.HONAN
28
120
KIANGSb
--)
1?2
32�
SHANGHAI
HUPEH
HANKOW r�-4,
cb,6
JCHIAHSING
ANHWEI
CHOU Is.
HANGCHOW
r.72 /
!N)
jiteVr'
NINGP9,.51k
'
.11P` .,., ._.
---
)
.,,,, ,.0
HIUCHIANG ' ) r�
,_ ,- /
I i'
CHDIHUA J
)
UNANi\.
CHANGSHA
(../
HENGYANG
26
�24
NANCHANG
IN
SHANGJAO
7,
1-4, wENcHOwer",,
7.X '
/ + r
5.
.\ CHEKIANG
-
CHIENOU
G S I
/
)SHA HS I EN ,
/.
�
(-
CHANGTING'
/
NANE! I NG
1)w 'i'MATSUS
SAN YUEN
F U K N
)74Z,
A ()IV 1 UEMOY
5.
,
K WA Ny.,G U N G 4 ,:,'"
\../
o' iF0 MO S
cAtiToN AY. SWATOWf 1 xx4PESCAIS'0R
/ % tr
\ . 0
�,......�
,-, \ __,- � -� -4-,
4-. C-c,------/
---,-,_-
q-',
,'t Hong Kong
22 Macao (G.B.)
(Port.) --
114
, 116 .
SOUTH (711.INA SEA
�TACHENS
iz4
-1.5-i
('
28-
26�
PEI
24-
22
1?0 122
PRESENTATIONS DIVISION
TOP SCRFT
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
60606
Ir. r rq f".1r ri
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
lieue virri
EASTERN EUROPE
Ambassador Riddleberger believes conference may have widened
gap between Yugoslavia and USSR
bassador Riddleberger believes that
he atmosphere of the Soviet-Yugoslav
conference may have widened rather
han narrowed the gap between the two
c un ries. RictcI1ebergEIhas learned from good sources that Tito,
who had been optimistic about the visit, was clearly disillusioned
at the Soviet attitude and not nearly so convinced as formerly of
Soviet peaceful intentions.
Tito reportedly was shocked at Soviet
boasting that World War I had brought Communism to Russia,
World War H had added Eastern Europe and China,and World
War HI would see it spread throughout the world. He also was
reported shaken by frank statements about the continuation of the
Stalinist line inside the USSR.
5. Western experts comment on implications of Soviet-Tito talks:
Ambassador Bohlen notes that the Belgrade
decisions may mark the beginning of Soviet
efforts to find some basis for relations with
the Satellites other than the Stalinist type
of direct control. He believes the USSR
may have felt a deal with Tito was an es-
sential step in the process. The ambassa-
dor points out that it is probably clear to
n in e rem n at any liberalization of relations with the
Satellites would be extremely dangerous as long as Yugoslavia main-
tained a defiant or even distant relationship with the Soviet Union.
Bohlen also states that the Kremlin may
have feared that the establishment of Yugoslav-Chinese relations
last fall would lead to eventual creation of a rival Communist cen-
ter which would be influential over Asian neutrals such as India.
7 June 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 6
rmn crrnrT
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
--T042�SE�RET
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03194470
Jean Soutou, French Foreign Ministry
expert on Eastern European affairs, sees the courting of Tito as
allied with the current Communist united-front tactics in France
and Italy.
Comment: Any alteration of the USSR's
control mechanism in the Satellites would be designed to encourage
popular co-operation with local Communist regimes. Furthermore,
such a change at this time might be intended to parry any Western
efforts to make the question of Soviet control of the Satellites a
subject of four-power negotiations.
6. Soviet moves raise hopes among Satellite people for improved
domestic situation:
Recent changes in Soviet policy toward
Yugoslavia and Austria have encouraged a
mood of "high optimism" among the Hun-
garian and Rumanian populations over the
possibility of a "change" in the domestic
Communist regimes. The American lega-
tion in Bucharest reports that Soviet pres-
tige has suffered "considerably" and that
rumors are widespread that Rumania will
be liberated in 1955.
According to the American army attach�
in Budapest, reversals in Soviet policies are causing confusion,
undermining party discipline, and leading to speculation concern-
ing the possible purge of party leader Rakosi, who took a leading
part in the 1948 ouster of Tito from the Cominform. He is said by
well-informed sources to be in an "exceedingly agitated state,"
shouting contradictory orders at meetings of the party leadership
and showing signs of overstress and fatigue.
7 June 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 7
TOP SECRET
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 003194470