From when I walk in, the Chinese ambassador will be constantly following me,

whispering my ears to be careful about, because they heard I was going to be going to

Balao, for example, and they don't like it, because Balao is a sympathetic to Taiwan,

for example, those kind of things.

And I want them not to ever do that again, because we're a sovereign nation.

In this episode, I sit down with former president of the Federated States of

Micronesia, David Penuelo, who served from 2019 to 2023.

He's unusual in having been highly vocal about the Chinese regime's aggressive efforts

to expand its control in the Pacific Islands through political warfare and

grey zone activities.

I wasn't doing it because I wanted to be bold.

I wanted to do it to protect our citizens and our sovereignty of our nation.

Why is this region so important?

It's part of the Second Island Chain of Defense, an America's military strategy against China,

and would become critical if the CCP were to invade Taiwan.

This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Yan Yikellik.

President David Penuelo, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.

Yan, thank you for having me on your program, the Epoch Times in Washington, D.C.

It's a pleasure to be here and I'm a fan of your Epoch Times.

Well, thank you so much and of course welcome to America.

Of course, I've been watching what you've been doing over the past several years

in the Federated States of Micronesia where you were the president.

...