The Trump administration is preparing to ramp up funding by hundreds of millions of dollars for programs designed to counter China’s growing influence around the world. This move comes after the administration had put a halt to many of those initiatives last year during a flurry of budget and personnel cuts.

Countering China’s Influence

The administration notified Congress late last week that it intends to spend $175.8 million to replace outdated and aging undersea telecommunications cables in the Caribbean and Central America to prevent China from moving in. This is part of a broader push to restore support for initiatives aimed at blunting Chinese influence globally, which would cost many hundreds of millions of dollars more.

A State Department official expressed deep concern about China’s activities in the Americas, pushing back on Chinese ownership of ports at either end of the Panama Canal, infrastructure projects funded by China’s Belt and Road initiative in the region, and Chinese investment in the telecommunications sector. The official stated that China’s economic activities in the Western Hemisphere pose risks to U.S. national security and prosperity.

The undersea cable funding appears to be part of a larger effort to counter China’s influence globally. The State Department is considering spending nearly half a billion dollars more on programs aimed at China throughout the Western Hemisphere, Africa, and Asia.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.