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Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is an American state-funded news service that publishes online news, information, commentary and broadcasts radio programs for its audiences in Asia. Its operations were suspended in October 2025 and partially resumed in 2026. The service, which provides editorially independent reporting, has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom.
RFA operates as a non-profit corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with news bureaus and journalists in Asia, Europe, and Australia. RFA was established by the US International Broadcasting Act of 1994 with the stated aim of "promoting democratic values and human rights", and countering the narratives and monopoly on information distribution of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as providing media reports about the North Korean government. It has historically been funded and supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly Broadcasting Board of Governors), an independent agency of the United States government. RFA digitally publishes news articles, photos, videos, and podcasts on its website and social media channels including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X in nine Asian languages for audiences in mainland China, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
On March 15, 2025, the United States Agency for Global Media terminated grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia following a directive from the Trump administration. The news service and its staff have defied the executive order and remained on the air while considering legal action to challenge the presidential directive. Since the announcement, RFA's Tibetan, Burmese, Korean, Lao, Cantonese, Khmer and Uyghur language services have shut down. Its news operations were suspended on October 31, 2025. In January 2026, RFA broadcasts to North Korea resumed. In February 2026, some RFA broadcasts to China resumed.
After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, a bipartisan group of senators and congressmen led by Jesse Helms and Joe Biden came together and sponsored legislation to create Radio Free Asia. Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich supported Radio Free Asia as a means to press China on human rights. The International Broadcasting Act was passed by the Congress of the United States and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, officially establishing Radio Free Asia.
Radio Free Asia was incorporated in March 1996, and began broadcasting in September 1996. Although RFA directors preferred to broadcast under the name "the Asia-Pacific Network", Republican representatives including Chris Smith and Jesse Helms insisted on returning the name to Radio Free Asia before broadcasting began, to which president Richard Richter complied. Radio Free Asia was forced to change the name in part due to financial pressures from the US government, for although they operated with an independent board, their initial $10 million annual budget came from the Treasury.
In 1997, the then US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, began talks with the government of Australia to purchase abandoned transmission facilities near Darwin, Northern Territory for the purpose of expanding RFA's signal to overcome jamming. Richter personally lobbied in Canberra to support this effort. Although the Australian Government intended to sell the facilities to a foreign broadcaster, preference was given to the BBC over the fledgling RFA due to fears that such a sale would anger China, with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer stating, "we are certainly not in the game of provocatively damaging our relations with China."
In response to radio jamming efforts from China, Newt Gingrich and House Republican leaders helped to increase the budget of RFA and VOA, with further funding of RFA proposed as a way to combat China's political repression without levying trade restrictions that would anger American businesses.
With the passage of the International Broadcasting Act in 1994, RFA was brought under auspices of the United States Information Agency where it remained until the agency's cessation of broadcasting duties and transitioned to U.S. Department of State operated Broadcasting Board of Governors in 1999. In September 2009, the 111th Congress amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one-year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia.
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Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is an American state-funded news service that publishes online news, information, commentary and broadcasts radio programs for its audiences in Asia. Its operations were suspended in October 2025 and partially resumed in 2026. The service, which provides editorially independent reporting, has the stated mission of providing accurate and uncensored reporting to countries in Asia that have poor media environments and limited protections for speech and press freedom.
RFA operates as a non-profit corporation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., with news bureaus and journalists in Asia, Europe, and Australia. RFA was established by the US International Broadcasting Act of 1994 with the stated aim of "promoting democratic values and human rights", and countering the narratives and monopoly on information distribution of the Chinese Communist Party, as well as providing media reports about the North Korean government. It has historically been funded and supervised by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (formerly Broadcasting Board of Governors), an independent agency of the United States government. RFA digitally publishes news articles, photos, videos, and podcasts on its website and social media channels including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X in nine Asian languages for audiences in mainland China, Hong Kong, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.
On March 15, 2025, the United States Agency for Global Media terminated grants to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia following a directive from the Trump administration. The news service and its staff have defied the executive order and remained on the air while considering legal action to challenge the presidential directive. Since the announcement, RFA's Tibetan, Burmese, Korean, Lao, Cantonese, Khmer and Uyghur language services have shut down. Its news operations were suspended on October 31, 2025. In January 2026, RFA broadcasts to North Korea resumed. In February 2026, some RFA broadcasts to China resumed.
After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, a bipartisan group of senators and congressmen led by Jesse Helms and Joe Biden came together and sponsored legislation to create Radio Free Asia. Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich supported Radio Free Asia as a means to press China on human rights. The International Broadcasting Act was passed by the Congress of the United States and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, officially establishing Radio Free Asia.
Radio Free Asia was incorporated in March 1996, and began broadcasting in September 1996. Although RFA directors preferred to broadcast under the name "the Asia-Pacific Network", Republican representatives including Chris Smith and Jesse Helms insisted on returning the name to Radio Free Asia before broadcasting began, to which president Richard Richter complied. Radio Free Asia was forced to change the name in part due to financial pressures from the US government, for although they operated with an independent board, their initial $10 million annual budget came from the Treasury.
In 1997, the then US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, began talks with the government of Australia to purchase abandoned transmission facilities near Darwin, Northern Territory for the purpose of expanding RFA's signal to overcome jamming. Richter personally lobbied in Canberra to support this effort. Although the Australian Government intended to sell the facilities to a foreign broadcaster, preference was given to the BBC over the fledgling RFA due to fears that such a sale would anger China, with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer stating, "we are certainly not in the game of provocatively damaging our relations with China."
In response to radio jamming efforts from China, Newt Gingrich and House Republican leaders helped to increase the budget of RFA and VOA, with further funding of RFA proposed as a way to combat China's political repression without levying trade restrictions that would anger American businesses.
With the passage of the International Broadcasting Act in 1994, RFA was brought under auspices of the United States Information Agency where it remained until the agency's cessation of broadcasting duties and transitioned to U.S. Department of State operated Broadcasting Board of Governors in 1999. In September 2009, the 111th Congress amended the International Broadcasting Act to allow a one-year extension of the operation of Radio Free Asia.