Hong Kong Standard, December 4, 1996

By Charles Snyder in Washington

BEIJING on Tuesday angrily accused the United States of intervening in China's internal affairs by starting direct broadcasts to Tibet, using the US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA).

"The move by the US government is apparently aimed at further interfering in China's affairs by means of the media," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Radio Free Asia, the recently formed American government radio network, has begun broadcasting in Tibetan, a move that brought new criticism from Beijing.

The first half-hour program aired at 7 am on Tuesday (Beijing time), with repeats at 7.30 am and 9 pm.

"We intend to deal with subjects that you care about, things that will interest you," RFA president Richard Richter said in a statement aimed at the station's Tibetan listeners, that kicked off the first program.

That program included an analysis of the situation in Hong Kong as the handover approaches, news about Tibetans in exile, reaction to Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to India, and a commentary on current political campaigns in Tibet.

The Chinese embassy immediately blasted the new service. "The Tibetan service is not in line with the China policy of the US," embassy spokesman Lu Wenxiang told the Hong Kong Standard.

"The US recognises Tibet as a part of China," he said. "Therefore (the Tibetan broadcast) is not in line with government policy."

He repeated Beijing's previous assertions that the radio station was "trying to interfere in China's internal affairs".

The Tibetan 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", International Campaign for Tibet president Lodi Gyari said. The Washington DC-based human rights organisation campaigned for the establishment of Radio Free Asia.

The radio station was established by the US Congress earlier this year, and began broadcasting in Chinese on 29 September. The Tibetan service is the second of what is expected to be several services aimed at Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and North Korea, in addition to China and Tibet.