New Chief's Ties Shock Radio Free Asia, While Pompeo Visit to VOA Stirs Outcry
The new president of the federally funded Radio Free Asia network most recently ran a consulting company from Boise, Idaho that has represented foreign governments and interests. Among them is Taiwan.
That connection has startled veterans of the international broadcaster.
"Are you serious?" said Libby Liu, who led Radio Free Asia for 14 years. "I don't think it's appropriate for a registered lobbyist for a foreign government to be leading a free-press organization, even democracies we support and admire."
Radio Free Asia distributes news to audiences in China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and North Korea as a "surrogate broadcaster." In recent years, RFA's reports on the oppression of Uighur Muslims by Chinese authorities helped to bring their plight to international attention.
The mission of Radio Free Asia, like its sister networks covering other parts of the world, is to provide independent coverage in countries without a free press. The recent professional activities of the network's new
