United States Agency for Global Media

Washington, D.C. — In light of Hong Kong’s passage of Article 23, Bay Fang, President and CEO of Radio Free Asia (RFA), made the following statement about the organization’s plans in Hong Kong – which is available below in Cantonese:

Concerns about the safety of RFA staff and reporters in Hong Kong have led us to restructure our on-the-ground operations there. While RFA will retain its official media registration, at this time we no longer have full-time personnel in Hong Kong and have closed our physical bureau. Actions by Hong Kong authorities, including referring to RFA as a “foreign force,” raise serious questions about our ability to operate in safety with the enactment of Article 23.

Since opening our Hong Kong bureau in 1996, RFA has operated as a private news organization, its editorial independence safeguarded by a firewall endorsed by the same body that funds it, the U.S. Congress. We recognize RFA’s frontline status – as it is among the last independent news organizations reporting on events happening in Hong Kong in Cantonese and Mandarin. This restructuring means that RFA will shift to using a different journalistic model reserved for closed media environments. I commend RFA’s journalists and staff for making this difficult transition possible. For our audiences in Hong Kong and mainland China, who rely on RFA’s timely, uncensored journalism: rest assured, our programming and content will continue without disruption.

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