by Veronica Smith

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (AFP) - Radio Free Asia, the controversial new US government-funded broadcasting service transmitting to China and Tibet, said Friday it will add services to Burma and Vietnam next month.

Richard Richter, president of the service, said the direct Burma transmissions will begin February 3, featuring a half-hour format of breaking news and more extended, magazine-style news reporting.

On February 5, the service will begin "exactly the same scenario" of programming for Vietnam.

"The ideas is to come on before the beginning of the Tet, on the seventh," he said in an interview. "It's a time of celebration and we'll horn in on it."

Richter said the Burma broadcasts will be heard between 7-8 a.m. and 9-10:30 p.m., while in Vietnam they will air between 5:30-6:30 a.m. and 9-10 p.m.

The service anticipates having three transmitters functioning each hour to Burma, and four for Vietnam.

The Voice of America probably will announce the frequencies so listeners can tune in a day before the broadcasts begin, he said.

Heading the Burmese service is So Thin, a former Burmese diplomat, he said. Bich Nguyen, a scholar and writer on arts and public affairs, will direct the Vietnam service.

Radio Free Asia is technically a private corporation but is funded by about 10 million dollars annually in federal government grants.

Congress has charged Radio Free Asia with broadcasting news and information in eight languages to Asia: Mandarin, Tibetan, Cantonese, Burmese, Korean, Khmer, Laotian and Vietnamese.

The first broadcasting, in Mandarin to China, began last September 30; the Tibetan-language service was added on December 1.

Beijing condemns the direct broadcasts to the mainland as US interference in its internal affairs.

Washington defends the service as a means of delivering news and information to Asian countries where such information is controlled.

Richter said there had been concerns about whether the signal was being blocked in China, but monitoring studies indicated that the China service "has been well heard since we've been on the air."

"Each day the reception has been at a four level, which means good, and sometimes it's been at five, which means excellent."

Monitors for the Mandarin service are in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, while those for the Tibetan-language broadcasts are in Katmandu, Islamabad and New Delhi.