DOGE targets Radio Free Asia
‘A gift to the CCP’ —Lawmakers rail at DOGE move on Radio Free Asia
Radio Free Asia — the U.S. government-funded broadcaster that beams local language news to populations living under authoritarian rule across Asia — is now in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
It was reported this week that DOGE staffers have been probing the operations of the agency that oversees RFA and other similar regional outlets. Your China Watcher host has more details about actions being taken against the broadcasters.
DOGE personnel have taken steps to starve RFA — a key tool for the U.S. government to counter Beijing’s censorship and influence abroad — of its congressional funding, two people familiar with the cost-cutters’ activities at the agency told China Watcher. We granted them anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
“DOGE has imposed a 30-day freeze on funding to RFA and other AGM media outlets and is looking to make that permanent,” said one of those two people. That funding freeze coincides with an ongoing effort by DOGE personnel within the agency to tally contracts and grants that sustain RFA in a bid to determine “how they could be cut off,” said the second person.
RFA aims to deliver “uncensored, domestic news and information” to countries including China, Tibet, North Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. And Beijing hates it. “For the past 28 years, RFA has never ceased its fabrication, attack and smear campaign against China,” Chinese state media reported in 2023.
Democratic lawmakers are rallying to defend the award-winning media platform.
“Radio Free Asia has provided a rare free speech platform inside some of the world’s most challenging authoritarian regimes,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).
