HANOI, Dec 6 (AFP) - Vietnam Friday launched a heavy attack against US government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA), calling it "a wicked political instrument and a product of the cold war period."

"From the idea of its establishment to preparations for the start of its broadcasts, Radio Free Asia has exposed itself as a wicked political instrument" the official communist party Nhan Dan daily said.

In an editorial, the newspaper also described the broadcasts of the US-backed radio as "a means to intervene in other countries" and "detrimental to recent efforts to improve US-Vietnam relations"

A government-funded private corporation, Radio Free Asia (RFA) is charged by US Congress with broadcasting news and information in eight languages Mandarin, Tibetan, Cantonese, Burmese, Korean, Khmer, Laotian, and Vietnamese -- to Asia.

The station aims to promote democracy in Asia, home of four out of five of the last remaining Communist countries in the world China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam.

Vietnam's criticism came as the latest in a series of attacks against RFA by other Asian critics, including China.