Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 16: As Beijing intensifies its Sinicization drive in Tibet, its state-run propaganda apparatus has significantly expanded its Tibetan-language broadcast network, even as independent and foreign media access to the region continues to shrink.
Marking World Radio Day on February 13, the Paris-based press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned that China’s state-owned broadcaster, China National Radio (CNR), has rapidly scaled up its Tibetan-language programming, pushing official narratives deeper into Tibetan communities.
According to RSF, in less than a year, CNR expanded its Tibetan-language programming from a single programme to 17. The increase was reflected in the winter broadcast schedule of the Prague-based High Frequency Coordination Conference (HFCC), which coordinates shortwave frequencies among broadcasters worldwide.
RSF expressed outrage that Beijing is moving swiftly to fill the information vacuum created by the suspension of Tibetan-language services at US-funded broadcasters Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Voice of America (VOA). The two outlets had long served as rare independent sources of news for audiences inside Tibet, documenting human rights abuses, religious restrictions, and cultural persecution while amplifying Tibetan voices.
“Without RFA and VOA, there is currently almost no counter-voice capable of challenging the Chinese regime’s propaganda in Tibet,” RSF said, noting that state narratives routinely glorify the Communist Party, promote so-called “ethnic unity,” and attribute any dissent to “hostile external forces.”
Aleksandra Bielakowska, RSF’s Asia-Pacific Advocacy Manager, said the expansion of radio programming by Chinese state media forms “a new, key part of Beijing’s strategy to promote a new world order in the information space by flooding it with propaganda.” She urged democracies to act swiftly to fund and support independent Tibetan media and called on USAGM leadership to prioritise restoring Tibetan-language programming before audiences are left with no source of information other than the state’s narrative.
The expansion aligns with Beijing’s broader political messaging strategy. During the 75th anniversary celebration of state-run Chinese Tibetan Radio in May 2025, Shen Haixiong, Deputy Head of the Chinese Communist Party’s Publicity Department and head of China Media Group, stated that the goal was to ensure “the leader’s [Xi Jinping’s] thoughts penetrate the hearts of people of different ethnicities like a shower of honey.” RSF said the dramatic scale-up of Tibetan-language content highlights how broadcasting is being weaponised as a tool of ideological consolidation in Tibet.
RSF described the Tibet Autonomous Region as an “information black hole,” where authorities closely monitor and repress anyone attempting to access or disseminate independent information, particularly news concerning human rights abuses against Tibetans. Foreign journalists are routinely denied access to the region, making independent verification of developments extremely difficult.
Even when RFA and VOA were operational, tuning in to their services was not without risk. Tibetan listeners have faced surveillance and punishment for consuming or sharing foreign news content.
Beyond radio, the authorities have tightened control over television access. In Ngari prefecture, private satellite reception equipment has reportedly been banned. In Coqên (Tsochen) County alone, more than 3,500 government-installed satellite television sets have been set up across 17 villages, effectively limiting rural and nomadic households’ access to external broadcasts.
An official statement cited by RSF said Beijing planned to install such government-controlled satellite systems in all 74 county-level administrative divisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region by the end of 2025. Whether the project has been fully implemented remains difficult to verify due to the near-total restrictions on independent journalism in the region.
