Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island?

Jane Gaskin did exactly that, trading in the family home to begin a new life in the

tropics.

But she soon discovers that Paradise has its secrets.

I'm Alice Levine, and this is the price of Paradise,

the island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption, and murder.

Wish you were here.

Follow the price of Paradise Now, wherever you listen to podcasts.

This is John Bachelor.

Conversation with colleague Cleo Pascal, the Foundation for the Defense of democracies,

about the Oceania Islands of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, leading us to have a conversation

also about the Northern Marianas, Saipan and Tinian. Those are U.S. territory as opposed to the compact of freely associated states, the

first three I named, those are provided protection by the U.S. but are sovereign. Northern Mariana is Tinian and Saipan or U.S. territory.

And what has started now is that the Chinese nationals from Hong Kong are being flown directly into Saipan without a visa.

Saipan is US territory without a visa.

A boat across to Tinian where there is a casino. The casino in Saipan is

dormant, but in Tinian it's active. Cleo makes the point about those

casinos and how they're used. Most importantly, she also makes a point about Guam

being vulnerable to Chinese nationals without visas entering the United States

of America, ostensibly for tourism.

Yes, but at the same time Clio makes the point that tourism for the Chinese Communist Party

is political leverage.

...