VZCZCXRO3047
RR RUEHKN RUEHMJ
DE RUEHKN #0188/01 3580502
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 230502Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KOLONIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2171
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0074
RUEHMJ/AMEMBASSY MAJURO 0391
RHMFISS/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHKN/AMEMBASSY KOLONIA 2532

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 
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