Questioning Our Service?

The Outrageous Claims About FSM Veterans and “Chinese Intelligence”

I came across a video clip floating around social media featuring commentator Cleo Paskal. In it, she makes a jaw-dropping claim: that Chinese medical teams in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) are using healthcare access to gather intelligence from local U.S. Armed Forces veterans.

According to the caption:

“The CCP is turning medical care into a weapon across the Indo Pacific... There’s a Chinese medical team… in The Federated States of Micronesia providing medical care to US veterans. And they are getting whatever information they can out of them in the course of their treatment.”

As a U.S. Navy veteran living right here in Micronesia, I have one direct question: What on earth are you talking about?

Taking a Fact and Distorting It

Let’s call this what it is: taking a basic, visible fact—that there is a Chinese medical team in the FSM—and twisting it to fit a pre-packaged narrative.

Cleo Paskal makes it sound like U.S. veterans across the FSM are lining up en masse to hand over sensitive details to foreign doctors. It is completely untrue.

What is actually happening? People in our communities—some of whom happen to be veterans—are simply seeking basic healthcare wherever they can find it in an underserved region. To weaponize that everyday reality and turn it into a sensationalized clickbait headline for foreign media is disgusting.

Intelligence on What?

Let’s be real for a minute. What “valuable military intelligence” is an honorably discharged veteran in Pohnpei, Chuuk, Yap, or Kosrae giving up to a visiting doctor?

• The location of the best local sakau market?

• Tides and secret GPS coordinates for the best reef fishing spots?

• How long the wait is at the local clinic?

The absurdity would be funny if it weren’t so deeply insulting. Many of our Veterans served as FSM citizens and therefore did not have access to confidential, secret, or even top secret information, because of their citizenship.

Stay in Your Lane: Stop Using Our Veterans

What makes this even worse is that commentators like Cleo Paskal—who hails from Canada—have zero personal stake in the blood, sweat, and service our people have given to the military.

It is easy for a foreign analyst sitting in a cozy think-tank office to spin paranoid stories. But she didn’t swear an oath. She didn’t deploy to foreign battlefields. And she certainly doesn’t have to deal with the harsh reality of living on an island where basic military benefits are almost impossible to access.

People need to stop making baseless accusations about veterans who actually served in real wars. Don’t use our veterans to build your platform or score points in a geopolitical drama.

The Real Reality: Missing Healthcare at Home

Micronesians enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces at remarkably high per-capita rates. We raise our hands, swear the oath, serve honorably, and deploy around the world. Many of our brothers and sisters return home with service-connected injuries, chronic conditions, and scars—both visible and invisible.

Yet, full VA healthcare services and facilities back home in the FSM remain severely limited. Veterans here have struggled for years just to get routine checkups or disability evaluations without having to fly thousands of miles to Guam or Hawaii.

When local residents seek whatever healthcare is available locally, it isn’t a geopolitical scheme. It is human beings trying to get medical care.

Do Not Question Our Loyalty

To paint Micronesian veterans as naive informants trading state secrets for a checkup is an insult to every islander who ever wore the uniform.

Our loyalty and our sacrifice are not bargaining chips for talking heads looking to make headlines. We served honorably. We sacrificed. To imply that we are now giving up information while getting medical care is not just irresponsible—it is completely outrageous. And again, what information are we giving up?

Outside commentators need to stop treating our islands like a chessboard and our veterans like disposable pawns.

For an essential look at the region’s political transition, check out P.F. Kluge’s acclaimed memoir, The Edge of Paradise: America in Micronesia. First arriving in 1967 as a Peace Corps volunteer, Kluge worked closely with local island leaders during the Trust Territory era—even helping draft the Preamble to the Constitution of Micronesia. Decades later, he returned to trace the personal and political journeys of the men who shaped modern island nationhood.

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