The U.S. funding program aimed at strengthening Chinese people's understanding of the U.S. aroused questions related to the real motivations behind "public diplomacy" efforts.

In mid-April, the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China released its Mission China Public Affairs Section (PAS) Annual Program Statement on its website, claiming to support individuals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including think tanks and academic institutions in China that carry out activities to promote American society, history, culture, arts, and values.

The program has been questioned by some media that call it a propaganda infiltration under the guise of public diplomacy, Reference News, a Chinese newspaper run by Xinhua News Agency, reported on Wednesday.

Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, also questioned the real motivations and purpose of the U.S. for launching the funding program at a press conference. 

"The constantly exposed image of the U.S. in the international media that it is interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and exerting malicious influence around the world under the guise of democracy and human rights and even inciting a color revolution makes one wonder about the true intentions of the related U.S. programs," Zhao added in the same occasion.

Kyrgyzstan and Cuba have also been subjected to the U.S. "public diplomacy." The U.S. set up information infrastructure facilities in Kyrgyzstan, where local media, NGOs, and citizens in those facilities provide and spread information in favor of the U.S., enhancing its abilities in influencing public opinion, Reference News said, quoting Kyrgyzstan media.

The manipulative hand of the U.S. is sometimes seen in recent regime change in this central Asian country, Reference News said, quoting Kyrgyzstan media.

And in Cuba, the U.S. Agency for International Development launched a program to provide music, films, chatting, and online games to attract youth in Cuba. This kind of "public diplomacy" was rejected by the Cuban government as a plan to overthrow the country's communist government.