CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A001300080001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: September 20, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

20 September 1953
Copy Noe 6 l
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. o
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
E] DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 20 0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE: /9/Id j7.9 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
1
rI
DIA and DOS review(s) completed.
004/0770PQVB p. 0975 e
TOP SECRET
V 4F
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SUMMARY
FAR EAST
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1. Popular pressure demands Japanese government act in fisheries
dispute (page 3).
3, Chinese mainland harvests considerably below last year's (page
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Burmese oppose resumption of Bangkok talks (page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
Israeli military activity reported along Egyptian border (page 5).
.6. Britain to make conciliatory gesture toward Iran (page 7).
LATIN AMERICA
Chile reportedly receptive to Soviet bid for 50,000 tons of copper
(page 7).
W-000" Panamanian president reportedly to use Washington visit to press
Eisenhower on Canal issue (page 8).
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20 Sept 53
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FAR EAST
1. Popular pressure demands Japanese government act in fisheries dispute:
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Japanese fishing interests ar
t
e con
inuing strong
demands that the government take positive meas-
ures in the Japan-South Korea fisheries dis
ute
p ,
~i ncluding a request for U 't d
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" V States assistance
under the US-Japan Security Treaty, according to th
e American embassy
in Tokyo. The government now hopes that an early meeting of fishery
representatives from both countries can reach an interim compromise
that will pave the way for a resumption of official negotiations.
The embassy comments that there is little pros-
pect of agreement as the Japanese will refuse to recognize the "Rhee
line," which the South Koreans apparently consider a prerequisite to an
agreement. Consequently, mounting political pressure may force the
Japanese government to take retaliatory measures.
Comment: Incidents arising from South Korean
actions to forbid Japanese fishing operations in international waters ad-
jacent to Korea and any Japanese retaliatory measures would probably
stimulate popular support for Japan's rearmament,
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3. Chinese mainland harvests considerably below last year's:
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The American consul general in Hong Kong
believes that Chinese mainland grain pro-
duction in 1953 will be considerably smaller
than last year. The Chinese Communist
press has stated that the autumn ha 4
r
s
ve
s
in certain districts declined this year due to drought and flood, and
refugees and travelers from the mainland continue to confirm that
agricultural difficulties in both Manchuria and China proper were
greater this summer than in 1952.
Comment: Government income, a large
part of which is requisitions grain, will probably decline as a re-
sult of the poor 1953 harvest, and therefore the construction program
might have to be curtailed. Despite the prospect of widespread food
shortages next spring, Peiping will probably continue to meet its
commitments to export large quantities of rice and vegetable oilseeds,
because of its need for foreign exchange.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Burmese oppose resumption of Bangkok talks:
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The Burmese ambassador in Bangkok told
an officer of the American embassy on 18
September that there was no purpose in re-
opening the four-power negotiations for the
evacuation of Chinese Nationalist troops from Burma. He indicated
that further discussion should be conducted on the "diplomatic level"
and suggested New York as the most suitable site.
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 The Burmese withdrawal from the Bangkok
talks provides the Nationalists with their main defensive argument
in the General Asserrbiy debate on Burma's complaint. The Taipei
radio has already blamed the Burmese for the breakdown of nego-
tiations and insinuated that they acted under the influence of the
Soviet bloc.
Comment: The Burmese government
regards the last-minute Nationalist acceptance of the committee's
evacuation plan as an opportunistic maneuver to impress the UN.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
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may be taking advantage of Egypt's domestic troubles to gain their
objectives in the border area.
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5. Israeli military activity reported along Egyptian border:
On 15 September twenty armed Israelis
with military communications equipment
entered the El Auja demilitarized neutral
zone on the Egyptian- Israeli border (see
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map, p, 6),
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IT he Israelis repor e y occupied
a defensive position near Birein within the neutral zone and informed
a UN Mixed Armistice Commission observer that they had orders to
remain the entire day.
At least two weeks earlier a new Israeli
tent settlement had been established on Hill 311 near the neutral
zone. In the past two weeks Israeli troops have made almost daily
armed incursions into the neutral zone and attacked Arab bedouin
settlements. Moreover, the insistence of UN observers that the
Israelis leave the zone has apparently been ignored:
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activity is apparently a deliberate move on the part o t e en-
Gurion government to gain control of the El Auja zone, which is
believed to have sufficient water resources to sustain several
Israeli settlements. the Israelis
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ISRAEL *
REPORTED
ISRAELI BORDER
ACTIVITY
1-15 SEPT. 1953
Neut
Zo
Some boundaries shown on this map
are de facto bopnda,ies (1953), not
e essarily recognized as definitive
by the united States Gove,nment.
-6=
Armistice line
National capital
0 10 20 30 40
Statute Miles
0 10 20 30 40
Kilometers
THE FRONTIERS OF ISRAEL SHOWN HERE ARE
THOSE TEMPORARILY ESTABLISHED BY THE
GENERAL ARM ISTICE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN
ISRAEL AND THE SEVERAL ARAB STATES. THE
FINAL INTERNATIONAL STATUS OF JERUSA-
LEM HAS NOT YET BEEN DECIDED BY THE
U.N.
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Comment., This is the first report that
Israel may now wish to enlarge its territorial control in an area
it has long claimed and desired for future settlements. If the re-
port is true, it is likely to increase the tension in the neighboring
Arab states, which have recently protested Israeli construction
work near the Syrian border as well as incidents along the Jordan
frontier.
6. Britain to make conciliatory gesture toward Iran.,
request that delivery be completed on its 1950 orders for rails and
other railroad supplies.
The British Foreign Office states that
it is now "most anxious" to make a good-
will gesture toward Iran, and therefore
intends to comply with the recent Iranian
The Foreign Office states that it is also
considering the "more elaborate" gesture of facilitating supply of
the locomotives ordered by Iran in 1950 but never delivered.
Comment., These moves would represent
the first tangible demonstration of Britain's intention to conciliate
Iran without taking the initiative for resumption of diplomatic rela-
tions.
LATIN AMERICA
7. Chile reportedly receptive to Soviet bid for 50,000 tons of copper.,
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The American embassy in Santiago reports
that the USSR has made Chile a firm offer
to buy 50,000 tons of copper at 33.5 cents
per pound, Finance Minister Herrera, in
telling the Anaconda Copper representative
of the Soviet offer on 16 September, stated
that Chile must sell its copper at competitive
prices both now and in the future.
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The Anaconda representative was convinced
that Chile will sell to the Orbit unless it is deterred by the current
Washington negotiations for American purchase of Chile's unsold
copper stocks, amounting to some 100,000 tons.
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extreme pressure to sell copper to anyone willing to pay Chile's price.
The present world price for copper fluctuates
just below 30 cents per pound. The 50,000 tons now under discussion
is approximately one eighth of Chile's.annual production.
Chile's current financial crisis, however, puts Ibanez under
8. Panamanian president reportedly to use. Washington visit to press
Eisenhower on Canal issue:
President
emon expressed strong displeasure at the
rrangements for his forthcoming state
visit to Washington and declared that he would insist on political
discussions with President Eisenhower and a joint presidential
statement on Canal Zone problems.
Comment: Remon, who is scheduled to
arrive in Washington on 2 al September, has taken on himself complete
responsibility for the outcome of the canal treaty negotiations which
opened in Washington on 10 September,
Remon has been repeatedly warned that the
United States intends to discuss only the "fulfillment and interpreta-
tion" of existing treaties, but appears to have been carried away by
his own propaganda and' to believe he can' exact major concessions
directly from President Eisenhower.
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