(TibetanReview.net, Feb20’26) – Radio Free Asia (RFA), a US government-funded, independent broadcasting service banned by China, is back on air in Mandarin, Tibetan, and Uyghur languages, reported hongkongfp.com Feb 20.
President and CEO of RFA, Ms Bay Fang, announced on LinkedIn on Feb 18 that the services were back after US President Donald Trump cut off government funding in Oct 2025.
“This critical work, which we’ve been able to resume due to private contracting with transmission services, is already making waves,” Fang has said.
“RFA’s Uyghur Service aired a report over the weekend about how children of detainees in Xinjiang are being forced into manual labor at a young age instead of going to school,” Fang said
RFA’s Tibetan service ran a series of reports, including on Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Tibetan New Year greeting; The re-election of Sikyong Penpa Tsering; The Dalai Lama’s congratulatory message to the 19 Buddhist monks who completed a 15-week, 2,300-mile “Walk for Peace” from Texas to Washington DC; the release by China of Tibetan environmental activist A-nyag Sengdra, the Dalai Lama’s return to Dharamshala from a nearly two-month sojourn in Mundgod Tibetan settlement, and so forth.
Fang added that RFA’s Korean and Burmese services resumed broadcasts last December.
“RFA’s incredible journalists and technicians, as well as our legal and HR teams, have made this all possible. I cannot be more proud of everyone behind this effort to get back on our feet as we enter a critical phase for our organization’s present and future,” Fang said.
Long a thorn in Beijing’s side, RFA halted all news production in October last year after funding from Washington ceased. By then, it had already laid off or furloughed over 90% of its staff, the report said.
In fact, Trump froze almost all state funding for independent media in early 2025.
RFA, along with its sister organizations like Voice of America, has historically been supported by appropriations from the US Congress, overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
RFA has indicated that ongoing congressional funding will be essential for the long-term sustainability of its operations. A recent bipartisan spending bill signed into law includes funding for USAGM, although the total allocation is lower than in previous years, noted radiofacts.com Feb 18.