BEIJING, Aug 20 (AFP) - China offered no excuses Wednesday to US charges that it was jamming broadcasts by the Congress-sponsored Radio Free Asia (RFA), and instead slammed Washington for interfering in the affairs of Asian nations.

"It is obvious that RFA is mainly targetted against China and other Asian countries, and that it is, in essence, launching further interference in other countries internal affairs by making use of the media," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

"This will naturally meet with the resolute opposition of the Asian countries, including China," the spokesman said, without explicitly confirming that Beijing was jamming the signals.

His comments followed accusations Tuesday by RFA president Dick Richter that China had begun blocking the Washington-based radio's airwaves for the first time since the independent US agency began broadcasting news to the communist nation last year.

"They have attacked us repeatedly for what they call meddling in their internal affairs in their country," Richter said.

"What we actually are doing is broadcasting news that is not available to the people of China because it is censored," he said.

However, the Chinese spokesman ignored Richter's complaints and accused the US side of "seriously violating the norms governing international relations."

Warning that RFA could only damage Sino-US relations, the spokesman also demanded that the US government "stop further meddling in other countries' internal affairs under the veneer of freedom of speech."

Monitors in Beijing, Hong Kong, Australia and other neighboring countries reported that RFA's Mandarin broadcasts began to be blocked at 2100 GMT Monday.

China sent out its own broadcasts on the same frequency that RFA uses and also scrambled the programs by distorting the sound, Richter said.

RFA waves have been jammed in Vietnam and there are reports of blocks in North Korea as well, but Richter said it was the first time Beijing has interfered in its operations.

Radio Free Asia is an independent corporation funded by Congress that broadcasts to Asian countries that limit press freedom.

The agency broadcasts hard news and information to China, Tibet, Burma, Vietnam, North Korea, Laos and will soon go on the air in Cambodia.

It was created by the 1994 International Broadcasting Act that set up a presidentially-appointed bipartisan board which oversees US agencies such as Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Radio Marti and Worldnet Television.