Transcript
Joyce McClure: I think like most anyone, if they get something like this, they kind of sit back on their heels for a minute. I have known that some people here, they're not really aware of what I write but they jump to conclusions based on things that I have posted online that I have shared in Facebook, for example, from other news organizations, as many people do, right. And oftentimes, they have been cautioned, what I call cautionary tales, about what the Chinese government is doing in terms of their Belt and Road initiative, because in fact, developers are actively attempting to come into Yap and have been for many years.
Mackenzie Smith: Do you have a clear idea, though, of - because the letter wasn't immediately clear - of what they have actually taken protest to?
JM: No, I do not. And other folks who have read their letter also, don't know. Of course, being at the center of this, I would think that had I done anything like this that I would know immediately, but it's a mystery what they are referring to, and I do wish that they would come forward with examples of what they're talking about, so that I could address those. I have printed out close to 70 articles that I have written, the majority of them for the Pacific Island Times since about November of 2016. And there are perhaps seven articles out of those close to 70 that have anything at all to do with illegal fishing activity, of which the Chinese were implicated in as well as locals were implicated in, and and other kinds of things like that, more investigative pieces. But the majority, the vast majority of articles that I have written have been profiles of people who live in Yap, very positive profiles, event reporting, perhaps reporting on public hearings, but they couldn't know at the terms an onslaught of bias reporting.
MS: The Council of Chief is the paramount authority or they claim to be the paramount authority on Yap. How worried are you that a body like that is calling through your expulsion?
JM: Good question. I want to know what gives them the authority to ask for my expulsion when in fact, I am an American, who under the contact of free association, am allowed to live here visa free.
