CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/05/04

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03181205
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: May 4, 1955

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3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Copy No. 94
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. edl-
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
1 1 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE.20/0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE:_91/180 REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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4 May 1955
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Soviet officials shun Israeli national day reception (page 3
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Saigon "Revolutionary Committee" seen possibly seizing
power (page 3).
3. Indonesian opposition leader foresees difficulties for dual
nationality treaty (page 4).
THE FORMOSA STRAITS
(page 6)
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GENERAL
1. Soviet officials shun Israeli national day reception:
Ambassador Bohlen in Moscow comments
that he has never before seen a national
day diplomatic reception shunned so thor-
oughly by Soviet officialdom as the one
given by the new Israeli ambassador on 27 April, two days after
he had presented his credentials. The only Soviet official to at-
tend was a minor protocol officer.
According to Bohlen, the explanation was
presumably contained in the next day's Pravda, which charged that
the Israeli action in freeing the "terrorists" who had assaulted the
Soviet and Czech legations in Tel Aviv in February 1953 was an af-
front to the Soviet and Czech people.
Bohlen adds that, by contrast, Soviet
propaganda and the 16 April Soviet Foreign Ministry communiqud
on the Near East have accorded the "independent" Arab states the
warmest treatment.
Comment: For the past year the Soviet
attitude toward Israel has been "correct" and formally friendly.
Since March, when the possibility of extending the Turkish-Iraqi
pact suddenly became a live issue in the Near East, the Soviet
Foreign Ministry has displayed a more active effort to encourage
Arab neutrality. This has led the Communist bloc to associate
itself with the Arab position in the Palestine dispute at the Bandung
conference, to which Israel was not invited, and at the earlier New
Delhi peace conference.
SOITIME AST ASIA
2. Saigon "Revolutionary Committee" seen possibly seizing power:
The American embassy in Saigon reports
having a "feeling of uneasiness" about
the newly formed "People's Revolutionary
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Committee" and believes that if Diem
should accept the support of this group in
a bid to depose Bao Dai, the chances are
great he would shortly find himself its
prisoner.
Comment: The Revolutionary Committee
appears to consist largely-6r-ge-er leaders and political parvenus
who are attempting to ensure their influence by a highly articulate
exploitation of the popular anti-French and anti- Bao Dai feeling.
Diem favors more moderate treatment of these issues, but may
be hard put to quiet the clamor of the committee without jeopard-
izing his own popularity. American backing and the national army
are Diem's principal tools in keeping the committee in line. A
Viet Minh broadcast on 1 May described the committee as a
"farce."
General The was reportedly killed on
3 May while conducting operations against the Binh Xuyen.
3. Indonesian opposition leader foresees difficulties for dual nation-
ality treaty:
Masjumi chairman Natsir told the Ameri-
can ambassador. on 30 April that tension
over the dual nationality treaty with Com-
munist China is growing not only in the
nese commum y out also among informed Indonesians. He indi-
cated that opposition to the treaty is already so strong he will have
little difficulty in preventing its ratification.
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Comment: The dual nationality treaty
with Communist China, signed on 22 April, provides that Over-
seas Chinese must reject either Chinese or Indonesian citizenship
within two years of the treaty's ratification. It does not permit the
Chinese to choose Chinese Nationalist citizenship.
Antigovernment Indonesians are con-
cerned that a large number of local Chinese assuming Indonesian
citizenship will support the leftist regime now in power. Many
Chinese, on the other hand, are loath to make a choice because
they realize their freedom is likely to be considerably curtailed
no matter what decision they make.
In the face of possible defeat on this
issue, the government may, as it has in other instances, indefi-
nitely postpone parliamentary consideration of the matter 0
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Nape
THE FORMOSA STRAITS
Report of the LAC Current Intelligence Group
for the Formosa Straits Problem
This report is based on information received in Washington
up to 1100 hours 3 May 1955.
1. No significant developments have been reported.
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