Radio Free Asia Halts Operations Amid U.S. Funding Cuts, Shuttering Uyghur Service

Federal funding cuts force Radio Free Asia to pause all services, including its vital Uyghur-language news outlet RFA Uyghur Service.

by Tursun Uyghur, Oct 30, 2025

WASHINGTON | October 29, 2025 — Radio Free Asia (RFA) Executive Editor Rosa Hwang announced a complete pause in RFA operations following U.S. federal funding cuts, temporarily closing all language services, including the Uyghur Service — the world’s only independent Uyghur-language news outlet.

In a statement, Hwang highlighted the Uyghur Service’s vital role in exposing mass repression in China:

“When RFA Uyghur journalists first exposed the violent repression and mass detainment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China harassed and arrested their family members. Still, our journalists bravely continued the work of uncovering atrocities. With the world’s only independent Uyghur-language news service shuttered, China’s propaganda will fester without a potent and effective accountability check.”

RFA’s official statement said the pause aims to preserve resources during the funding lapse, including ending leases of overseas offices in Dharamsala, Taipei, Seoul, Istanbul, Bangkok, and Yangon. It also noted RFA’s historic reporting on the Uyghur genocide, COVID-19 cover-up, the Myanmar crisis, Tibetan hydropower projects, and North Korean defectors, describing it as a public record of transparency “in some of the world’s most repressive places.”

The reason for halting Radio Free Asia operations:

Rosa Hwan said: “When the initial funding disruption earlier this year forced RFA to furlough the majority of our editorial staff, the handful of journalists who remained launched RFA Perspectives, determined to fulfill RFA’s congressionally mandated mission to provide uncensored, accurate news and information in regions across Asia hostile to a free press. That program, too, will end.”

The Radio Free Asia Uyghur Service has been a vital source of information on human rights conditions in the Uyghur homeland, where China strictly blocks independent reporting and movement. Dozens of professional Uyghur journalists at RFA have reported on these abuses, often at great personal cost, with many losing family members to internment camps because of their work.

Coverage of RFA’s suspension appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and RFA’s own announcement.

Sources: RFA statement, The New York Times, The Washington Post.