Washington, D.C. December 2, 1996 (ICT) - The Congressionally-established broadcasting station, Radio Free Asia (RFA), began its service in Tibetan this morning (Beijing time). Unlike the existing Tibetan language service on Voice of America, RFA will include only news pertaining to Tibet and Tibetans.

The initial half-hour program, which aired from 7 to 7.30 am (Beijing time) included news about Tibetans in exile's reaction to Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to India, an analysis of the situation in Hong Kong as the transfer of power approaches, and a commentary on current political campaigns in Tibet. The broadcast is being repeated for the next half hour ( 7.30 to 8 am, Beijing time) as also from 9 to 10 pm (Beijing time) the same day.

In a message directed to Tibetan listeners, RFA President Richard Richter said, We intend to deal with subjects that you care about, things that will interest you. The head of RFA's Tibetan service, Jigme Ngapo, said his program will strive to provide unbiased, timely and accurate information on Tibet and Tibetans.

Welcoming the start of the Tibetan service, ICT President Lodi Gyari said, This service will enable the people of Tibet to get much more information about events affecting Tibet which are currently denied to them by the official Chinese media. I look forward to Radio Free Asia fulfilling the mission set by the US Congress.

ICT had actively campaigned for the establishment of RFA. It was incorporated in March 1996 and began its Chinese language program on September 29, 1996. Tibetan is the second language to be broadcast by RFA. RFA's plans include broadcasting to China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Tibet, Vietnam and North Korea.

China has come down heavily on RFA saying, "The mission of the radio station is to incite Asian people to rise up and overthrow their own governments." Based on the experiences of Voice of America, it is likely that China will try to jam the transmission of RFA's Tibetan service. In an apparent attempt to thwart such an effort, RFA has not announced the location of its transmitters nor the frequencies on which its broadcast in Tibetan can be received.

RFA's Tibetan service staffers consist of Jigme Ngapo, Karma Dorjee, Benpa Topgyal, Dolkar, Kalden Lodoe, and Rigzin.