SILENCING OF TIBETAN VOICES
The Impact of VOA and RFE Closures

A few days ago, I came across an insightful article by Gyaltsen Choedrak. He is a Tibetan journalist who served as a correspondent for Voice of America’s Tibetan Service from 2018 to 2025 and previously for Voice of Tibet from 2009 to 2018. He currently lives in exile in India.

Recalling his experiences of listening clandestinely to the US government-funded radio broadcast services while living in Tibet and later working for it at significant personal cost after arriving in exile, Choedrak argues that while China is spending many billions of dollars to expand its propaganda power throughout the world, the US is withdrawing from the battlefield of information and propaganda with the suspension of many of its global broadcast services, including VOA and RFA; that this is not merely a budget cut but also the abandoning of one of the most critical soft power resources that has maintained American interests and values across generations.

We know that on March 14, 2025, an executive order issued by Trump, aimed at reducing U.S. government expenditures, significantly affected the State Department and its affiliated bodies, including the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM). This mandate led to drastic downsizing measures, dissolving subsidiary departments and forcing many staff resignations. Consequently, funding for five USAGM-supervised radio stations, including Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), was frozen. Operations for these stations ceased as of March 15, and employees were placed on leave. Among the hardest hit were the Tibetan services of VOA and RFA, which have long served as vital lifelines for Tibetans both inside and outside Tibet by broadcasting independent news and cultural programming in the Tibetan language.

The article details the profound personal and collective significance of these Tibetan-language broadcasts, using the author’s own experiences and those of their teacher to illustrate their importance. At monasteries like Sera in Lhasa, clandestine listening to these programs was common despite the risks. These broadcasts brought uncensored news, updates about the Dalai Lama, and insights into global affairs, fostering hope and preserving cultural identity. For many Tibetans living under oppressive conditions, VOA and RFA offered rare windows to the outside world. The memory of monks gathering to quietly absorb these broadcasts under threat of Chinese interference demonstrates the deep emotional and cultural ties many Tibetans have to these services.

The author, a former regional correspondent for Voice of Tibet and later for VOA’s Tibetan Service, highlights the breadth and impact of their reporting from 2009 to 2025. Over 1,900 of his reports were broadcast during this period, covering issues such as religious repression, environmental degradation, forced relocations, and human rights violations. However, this work came at a personal cost—Chinese authorities harassed the author’s family in Tibet and cut off all contact for more than a decade. These sacrifices underline the risks taken by journalists and correspondents in exile and emphasise the importance of maintaining platforms that allow the Tibetan narrative to reach the world.

The closure of VOA and RFA’s Tibetan services has been welcomed by Chinese state media, which labelled these outlets as purveyors of falsehoods. This reaction underscores the strategic advantage China gains from their absence. The Chinese government continues to heavily invest in its propaganda efforts, establishing numerous state-controlled outlets across Tibet while blocking access to foreign media. It restricts international journalists, punishes citizens for sharing information with foreign outlets, and aims to dominate ideological narratives within the region. In contrast, the U.S. decision to defund these stations is viewed as a retreat from the global soft power arena, weakening its position in the information war and diminishing its historical support for oppressed groups like the Tibetans.

The potential permanent loss of these Tibetan-language broadcasts poses severe consequences. Without these stations, Tibetans risk being isolated from the global community, with no reliable means to communicate their struggles or resist Chinese state propaganda. This silence would hamper international understanding and advocacy for Tibet, embolden Chinese authorities to act with impunity, and threaten the survival of the Tibetan language and culture. The impact extends beyond Tibet to Tibetan communities across the Himalayan region. Tibetan leaders, former political prisoners, and journalists have all emphasised the crucial role these broadcasts play. Their suspension is seen not only as a loss for Tibetans but also as a strategic failure by the U.S., one that ultimately serves the interests of authoritarian regimes and undermines democratic values globally.

You can read this excellent article at the Tibetan Review website (click link below):

The Silencing of Tibetan Voices: Who Benefits and Who Loses from the Closure of VOA and RFE?

73 and good DX,

Rob Wagner VK3BVW