CHINA FETES MICRONESIAN POLICE CHIEFS, AS FSM DISQUIET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLONIA 000188 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/23/2018 TAGS: PREL PTER CH FM SUBJECT: CHINA FETES MICRONESIAN POLICE CHIEFS, AS FSM DISQUIET DEEPENS CLASSIFIED BY: Miriam K. Hughes, Ambassador, Amembassy Kolonia, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary. The Chief Police of Pohnpei State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) described to Ambassador a ten-day trip that China recently sponsored for the national police chief and corresponding police chiefs from the four FSM states, along with their wives. Each couple received an envelope with USD $1,000 cash upon arrival in Nanjing, he said. Regarding terrorism vulnerabilities in the FSM, the Pohnpei chief said a growing influx of Philippines nationals into his state was beyond the ability of the police to monitor and they could conceivably include extremists. The Chief forecast increasing political instability in the FSM based upon deepening distrust between the state and national governments. Calls for secession among Pohnpei State leaders were strengthening, he said. End Summary. FIRST-CLASS TRAVEL INCLUDES ENVELOPES ¶2. (C) Chief of Police of Pohnpei State Joe Robey (please protect) invited Ambassador to a private lunch on December 22 to share his personal misgivings about a trip the police chiefs took to China December 2-12. For months, China's Ambassador Liu Fei had heavily lobbied FSM National Police Chief Pius Chotailug, he said. Chotailug had hinted to the corresponding career chiefs in the four FSM states that they might be invited on a good will trip to China. Finally, the chiefs received three days notice to pack and to include their wives. ¶3. (C) Robey said the five chiefs and their spouses departed on December 2 for Guam, where they spent two nights. They were advised to bring ties and business suits, which few of them owned. They then proceeded to Tokyo for transit on Air China to Nanjing. Upon arrival, representatives of China's Foreign Affairs Department met them and gave each couple an envelope containing USD $1,000. These Foreign Affairs escorts, who were fluent in English, remained with the group for a week as they traveled by bus to two additional Chinese cities, whose names Robey could not remember. ¶4. (C) "Everything was first class," Robey said, including hotel rooms, receptions and lavish meals. While they met some police officials, he said most time was dedicated to tourism and shopping. Robey, who is a staunchly pro-American graduate of �A;the University of Guam and has served in the Pohnpei police force more than 30 years, clearly had misgivings. "If any of us had turned down the trip," he pleaded, "I believe we would have faced reprisals from Chief Chotailug." Nevertheless, the trip haunted him and he was thinking about writing an article for Micronesia's sole newspaper. "I fear for the way China is trying to influence us," he said. Robey added that he and FSM Immigration Chief Mohner Esiel were monitoring a lucrative Chinese prostitution operation based at Pohnpei port at the China Star hotel. Prostitutes included more than a dozen Chinese women who appeared to serve boatloads of Chinese fishermen. INFLUX OF OUTSIDERS AND CALLS FOR SECESSION ¶5. (C) Robey predicted that completion of a Japanese funded project to extend Pohnpei's runway in 2010 would attract charter flights from China that would bypass Guam and avoid the U.S. visa requirement. In the meantime, he said more inhabitants of the destitute FSM State of Chuuk were entering Pohnpei and contributing to petty crime. Philippino workers were also arriving in increasing numbers, and it was beyond the capacity of Immigration and his 77-man police force to monitor their credentials and activities. He said any Philippino could obtain an immigration work permit, including those with possible extremist intentions. Pohnpei's vulnerability to terrorism would arise from this group, he posited. ¶6. (C) Robey shared other concerns about public order and overall FSM stability. He described the intensification of state anger in reaction to perceptions of a dysfunctional FSM National Government (FSMNG),particularly among Pohnpei's influential traditional leaders. Although these indigenous chieftains lack formal authority, they exert a powerful influence upon villages throughout the state, Pohnpei leaders, and citizens' opinions, Robey said. He claimed Pohnpei Governor John Ehsa was beholden to traditional leaders, who include the Governor's influential Chief of Staff. When delegates are elected to a Pohnpei constitutional convention in March 2009, Robey said the delegates are likely to represent traditional leaders, and they may make a formal push for secession from the FSM. President Mori's apparent favoritism toward his home State KOLONIA 00000188 002 OF 002 of Chuuk, including his appointment of a disproportionate number of unqualified Chuukese to FSMNG bureaucratic positions in the capital of Palikir, has contributed to the tension. He said Pohnpeians are also fed up with the poor administration of Compact grants by the FSMNG and a four-year delay in realization of Compact infrastructure projects owing significantly to mismanagement by Palikir. ¶7. (C) Ambassador reminded Robey that were Pohnpei to secede from the federation, Pohnpei would forfeit all Compact funds, U.S. defense protection, and its people's cherished U.S. immigration privileges. Robey responded that Micronesians were acutely aware of the price Pohnpeians would pay for autonomy, but he could not predict what would happen. HUGHES