The Trump administration is preparing to spend $175.8 million to replace outdated and aging underseas telecommunications cables in the Caribbean and Central America, in a bid to prevent China from moving in. The administration has expressed deep concern about China’s activity in the Americas and pushed back on Chinese ownership of ports on either end of the Panama Canal—as well as Chinese telecommunications projects and those funded by its Belt and Road initiative.

The cable funding appears to be part of a broader push to restore support for initiatives aimed at blunting Chinese global influence. The Trump administration is preparing to ramp up funding by hundreds of millions of dollars for such programs, after it had to halt many last year during a flurry of budget and personnel cuts.

Full report: US looks to boost anti-China spending worldwide by hundreds of millions, documents say.