(TibetanReview.net, Nov25’25) – There has been a significant expansion in reported broadcasts by state-run China National Radio (CNR), especially in Tibetan and Uyghur even a US-backed Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) had stopped transmissions, reported asianews.it Nov 24, citing High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC), which coordinates the use of shortwave among broadcasters worldwide. Their Tibetan and Uyghur-language broadcasts have documented repression in Tibet and Xinjiang, detention camps, and forced labour practices violating fundamental human rights, the report noted.
The Prague-based HFCC manages and coordinates global databases of frequencies used by international radio stations, with the aim of minimising interference between stations. However, the association relies solely on data provided directly by broadcasters.
In countries with strict censorship, shortwave radio remains a favoured medium for the dissemination of independent voices because it circumvents restrictions, escapes controls, and maintains listeners’ anonymity, the report noted.
The report said the HFCC’s Nov 9 conference update highlighted a further increase in frequencies registered by the Chinese state broadcaster CNR, especially for Tibetan and Uyghur-language services.
Given this context, the report explained that some stations may register more frequencies than they actually use, or, conversely, not include all the programmes they actually broadcast. Therefore, the HFCC schedule is not an exact snapshot of the entire shortwave radio landscape, but rather reflects the stated intentions of individual broadcasters, which sometimes also have political objectives.
The report noted that since 2018, CNR has been part of the state-owned conglomerate Voice of China, which brings together radio, television, and digital platforms under the supervision of the Central Propaganda Department. This centralisation of the management of state media allows for effective coordination of their expansion.
This has taken place as cuts by USAID, the US aid agency, has drastically reduced the dissemination of alternative voices in the PRC. While In 2024, the US allocated over $ 800 million to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), with US$ 71 million for RFA alone, the proposed 2026 budget includes 3 million for the agency’s orderly closure, the report noted.
While it is difficult to verify a direct correlation between the expansion of China-funded services and the contraction of those subsidised by the United States, the programming schedule compiled by the HFCC suggests an attempt by Chinese media to fill the information gap left by the United States, the report noted.
It is probably no coincidence that the CNR is expanding the number of broadcasts scheduled in Tibetan and Uyghur, specifically those aimed at the minorities primarily affected by the gutting of the RFA, the report added.
The CNR is stated to have announced that it will broadcast 17 Tibetan-language programmes this winter, from late Oct to Mar (B25 season), one more than the recently concluded summer season (A25), and 16 more than for last year’s summer season, from Mar 31 to Oct 27, 2024 (A24), ie, before the US funding cuts.
In light of these programming updates, it is reasonable to see a direct relationship between the downsizing of US-funded media and the expansion of Chinese-backed media, Maria Repnikova, an expert on Chinese political communication, has said,
The aim of China’s ethnic language services is to allow “the leader’s thoughts to penetrate the hearts of people of different ethnicities like a shower of honey,” the report quoted a senior official from Beijing’s Central Propaganda Department as having said at the anniversary celebration of the state-run Chinese Tibetan Radio.