National Intelligence Bulletin July 26, 1975

D84211

National Intelligence Bulletin
July 26, 1975

English

United State

26 July 1975

DC-Cam, D84211 27/03/2025

Computer-Typing (tx) 17 pages

TURKEY: Operations at common defense installations suspended (1.p). ISRAEL: Civilian reservists reportedly being demobilized (2.p). PORTUGAL: Appointment of triumvirate may indicate Goncalves survived ouster attempts (3.p). USSR: Grain crop estimate (5.p). WEST GERMANY: Export of nuclear technology (7.p). PERU: US mining firm expropriated (8.p). CAMBODIA: Low-level meeting with Thai officials (9.p)

CAMBODIA: Cambodian communist and Thai officials recently held a low-level meeting near the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet. According to a press version of the meeting, the Cambodians took the initiative in arranging the contact. The two sides are said to have discussed resumption of trade and diplomatic relations, opening of the border, and future meetings between
Cambodian and Thai representatives, possibly in Phnom Penh, Battambang, or
Poipet, near the Cambodian -Thai border.
Although border contacts involving trade have taken place in the past, the
recent meeting is the first instance of discussion of broader issues affecting the two countries. The meeting was attended by a Thai district official, who was in contact with his Ministry of Interior, and on the Cambodian side by a former Phnom Penh teacher who told a reporter that he was a trade representative appointed by the
"military committee" in Phnom Penh.
A Thai Foreign Ministry official, in commenting on the meeting to a US
embassy official in Bangkok, cautioned that the press account had exaggerated the significance of the contact. He said, however, that the Foreign Ministry would study the results of the meeting carefully. If the meeting, as claimed, came at the initiative of Phnom Penh rather than from focal officials, it could lead to the development of a more formal and higher level dialogue. The chances of an early resumption of diplomatic relations between
Cambodia and Thailand are probably nil. The Cambodian communists are almost
certainly not prepared to move in this direction until the new governmental
structure is decided upon and relations with major allies are formalized.
Nevertheless, Phnom Penh may be trying to relax the situation along the border with Thailand and expand trade in order to alleviate its supply shortages, particularly in the Northwet Apparently trying to counter the recently revived rumor that Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Khieu Samphan is dead, the Cambodian
representative told a journalist at the meeting that Khieu Samphan is alive and working in the defense department in Phnom Penh. The Cambodian media last mentioned Khieu Samphan routinely on July 1. The representative also hinted that further details on Cambodian communist would soon be made public.

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