WASHINGTON—Ahead of Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, D.C. in September, Radio Free Asia (RFA) convened a closed, bipartisan roundtable on Capitol Hill, “China’s Transnational Repression (TNR): Three Communities, Three Phases, One Evolving System”—examining trends and developments regarding the targeting of Tibetan, Uyghur, and Hong Kong diaspora communities and groups. RFA, uniquely positioned to host the roundtable, has both documented TNR’s rise and has been a target.

From that discussion with Congressional staff, policymakers, rights advocates, academics, and journalists, RFA is reporting out a set of recommendations and ideas regarding TNR’s development, growth, and sophistication. Issues raised were ways of protecting journalists and advocates, TNR’s use by Beijing as a tactic aimed at manipulating global narratives, artificial intelligence’s role in expanding its scope, its growing presence on U.S. soil, including universities and diaspora communities, and Beijing’s growing influence with international institutions, such as Interpol, to aid its efforts.

“From RFA’s exclusive reporting on restrictions of religious freedom in Tibet and forced labor and human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to closing our physical bureau in Hong Kong after authorities enacted Article 23 and named us a ‘foreign force,’ RFA and our journalists have endured every iteration of TNR designed to silence us and inhibit transparency,” RFA President and CEO Bay Fang said.

Delivering opening remarks at the roundtable was Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), former Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), who introduced the bipartisan Transnational Repression Policy Act (S.2525) last year, co-sponsored by current CECC Chair Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The conversation, moderated by RFA’s Chief Communications Officer Rohit Mahajan, delved into the issues outlined above, with an eye on fostering greater cross-sector cooperation, understanding, and solutions.

RFA plans to continue engaging on this issue with partners, policymakers, authorities, technologists, freedom advocates, journalists, and experts in this critical space.

Read the chief takeaways from RFA’s session here: https://docs.rfa.org/english/docs/RFA_TNR_Roundtable_Sept.2026.pdf.