Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/1399

 124 STAT. 1373 PUBLIC LAW 111–202—JULY 13, 2010 Public Law 111–202 111th Congress An Act To permanently authorize Radio Free Asia, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) Radio Free Asia (referred to in this Act as ‘‘RFA’’)— (A) was authorized under section 309 of the United States International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6208); (B) was incorporated as a private, non-profit corpora- tion in March 1996 in the hope that its operations would soon be obviated by the global advancement of democracy; and (C) is headquartered in Washington, DC, with addi- tional offices in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Phnom Penh, Seoul, Ankara, and Taipei. (2) RFA broadcasts serve as substitutes for indigenous free media in regions lacking free media outlets. (3) The mission of RFA is ‘‘to provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press’’ in order to enable informed decisionmaking by the people within Asia. (4) RFA provides daily broadcasts of news, commentary, analysis, and cultural programming to Asian countries in sev- eral languages, including— (A) 12 hours per day in Mandarin; (B) 8 hours per day in 3 Tibetan dialects, Uke, Kham, and Amdo; (C) 4 hours per day in Korean and Burmese; (D) 2 hours per day in Cantonese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Khmer (Cambodian), and Uyghur; and (E) 11⁄2 hours per week in Wu (local Shanghai dialect). (5) The governments of the countries targeted for these broadcasts have consistently denied and blocked attempts at Medium Wave and FM transmissions into their countries, forcing RFA to rely on Shortwave broadcasts and the Internet. (6) RFA has provided continuous online news to its Asian audiences since 2004, although some countries— (A) routinely and aggressively block RFA’s website; (B) monitor access to RFA’s website; and (C) discourage online users by making it illegal to access RFA’s website. 22 USC 6208 note. July 13, 2010 [S. 3104]