CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/01/19

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03157471
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: January 19, 1955

� Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03157471,
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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SUMMARY
GENERAL
1. Singapore officials see Nehru determined to dominate Afro
--
Asian conference (page 3).
SOUTH:EAST ASIA
2. Missing Thai politician said to be active with Communists in
Laos (page 3).
SOUTH ASIA
3. Afghan prime minister, faces showdown with royal family (page 4).
WESTERN EUROPE
4. Adenauer proposes that West form group to study East-West
meeting (page 5).
LATE ITEM
5. Comment on Communist operations against Tachen Islands
(page 5).
19 Jan 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 2
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GENERAL
1. Singapore officials see Nehru determined to dominate Afro
Asian conference:
British officials in Singapore believe
that Prime Minister Nehru will exert
himself to the utmost to control the
Afro-Asian conference. This thinking
is based on the belief that Nehru has
become apprehensive of Peiping since his trip to China last
October and is determined to wrest the initiative in Asia from
the Chinese.
Meanwhile, the American consulate
general in Singapore reports that Australian representatives sup-
port the British view that the forthcoming Bangkok conference of
the Manila pact powers should avoid criticism or discouragement
of the Bandung talks. In this connection the consulate comments
that local Asians generally assume that the United States is hos-
tile to the Bandung conference.
Comment: The American embassy in
New Delhi reported on 4 January that it believed Nehru could be
counted on to combat any effort the Chinese Communists might
make to dominate the Afro-Asian conference,
One of the chief themes of Chinese,
Communist propaganda regarding the conference is the charge
that the United States is attempting to sabotage it. A similar
line is also being followed by a large segment of the press in
the neutral countries of Asia.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
2. Missing Thai politician said to be active with Communists in Laos:
19 Jan 55
Tiang Sirikhan, the popular
inn politician who disappeared in late
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1952, is still alive and is heading a "Free Thai movement" based
in Laos.
Comment:
It has been widely believed that the Thai
police liquidated Tiang. If he is still alive, he would be a logical
Communist choice to promote a dissident movement in northeastern
Thailand, where his name is still greatly revered and dislike of the
central government is endemic.
SOUTH ASIA
3. Afghan prime minister faces showdown with royal family:
Afghan prime minister Daud appears to
be heading for an early showdown with
other members of the royal family who
oppose his policy of increasing economic
ties with the USSR.
Opposed to Daud are his two influential
uncles Shah Wali Khan and Shah Allahmoud Khan, the latter of whom
has just been called back to Kabul from E4rope. Also opposed are
the king and Daud b brother, Foreign Minister Naim. Religious
leaders have publicly criticized the prime minister, and important
business interests, which have been increasingly subjected to gov-,
ernment control through Daud's loyal follower Finance Minister
Malik, are also set against him.
Though Daud is intensely ambitious and
energetic and has apparently been fighting against efforts to curb
his activities, he has twice previously been forced to succumb to
the will of the royal ruling group. At the moment, he seems to
have insufficient political backing to beat his opposition in a show-
down�
19 Jan 55
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WESTERN EUROPE
4. Adenauer proposes that West form group to study East-West
meeting:
Chancellor Adenauer in his 14 January
meeting with French premier Mendes-
France proposed that the three Western
Allies and the Federal Republic form a
joint high-level working group to study
plans for a conference with the Soviet
Union sometime this yea.r, according to
Herbert Blankenhorn, a top Bonn Foreign
stry official. The working group, which would be composed
of leading representatives from Western parliaments, should con-
sider questions relating to a European security system and German
reunification.
On 16 January Mendes-France assured
the American embassy in Paris that he is ready to discard another
approach to the USSR in favor of a Western working group on East-
West talks. He referred two or three times to a British suggestion
for a possible "tripartite working group." He reiterated that some
progress on East-West talks is essential for the passage of the
Paris accords by the Council of the Republic.
Comment: This is the first effort by
Adenauer to lay the foundation for an East-West meeting on Ger-
man reunification. Further steps along these lines can be expected
from the chancellor after the Paris accords are ratified.
Mendes-France no longer considers May
a feasible target date for East-West talks as a result of delay in
the timetable for French ratification of the Paris agreements.
LATE ITEM
5. Comment on Communist operations against Tachen Islands:
Chinese Communist operations against
other islands of the Tachen group are
likely to follow quickly upon the capture
:19 Jan 55
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of Ichiang Island on 18 January (see map, p.7). The Commu-
nists are capable of taking any or all of these islands�including
the two principal islands�against Chinese Nationalist opposition
alone.
on the
evening of 18 January Communist ships and artillery were shell-
ing Pishan, which is garrisoned by 12500 guerrillas, and other
vessels were observed near Yushan, which is manned by about
850 guerrillas. Pishan is about 35 miles southwest of the main
Tachens, and Yushan,35 miles northeast.
Ichiang, only seven miles from Upper
Tachen, will serve as an ideal site for shelling all areas of the
two principal islands of the Tachen group and the anchorage between
the two.
The Nationalist garrison on the two main
Tachens-10,000 regulars and 2,750 guerrillas--may consider its
position hopeless. Adequate air and naval support has not been
provided, and the planned level of supplies has not been reached.
Chiang Kai-shek may be considering with-
drawal of the Nationalist, garrison in the Tachens, but the time
for an effective evacuation may have passed.
19 Jan 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 6
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7"--Icbiang Island captured
h by Chinese Communist on
18 January 1955
TACHEN ISLANDS
10,000 Regulars
2,750 Guerillas
JANUARY 18 1955
Nationalist held
Island
0 5 10
miles
PRESENTATIONS DIVISION
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