State Department Moves to Restore Anti-China Funding, But $170 Million Meant to Track Chinese Fishing Fleets Went to World Cup Security Instead

The State Department notified Congress late last week that it plans to spend $175.8 million replacing aging undersea telecommunications cables in the Caribbean and Central America, according to a document obtained by the Associated Press. The goal is blocking China from filling that infrastructure gap itself.

A separate internal State Department document, also obtained by AP, shows the administration is weighing close to half a billion dollars in additional spending on anti-China programs across the Western Hemisphere, Africa and Asia.

"The United States must respond to the CCP's growing economic, technological, and diplomatic leverage around the world which undermines our national interests," the document states, using the acronym for the Chinese Communist Party.

Why the Money Dried Up in the First Place

This is a reversal. Many of these programs got shut down last year when Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency tore through government budgets and staffing, according to AP. DOGE's cuts dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development entirely and eliminated several hundred diplomatic posts worldwide. Previously approved anti-China initiatives got caught in that sweep.

Now the administration wants some of it back. A State Department official, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Chinese infrastructure deals that look cheap upfront often turn expensive later through cost overruns, hidden maintenance fees and poor performance.

The timing is awkward. This funding push is happening as President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping stage a public show of cooperation, with Xi scheduled to visit the U.S. this fall. Washington is simultaneously cozying up to Beijing diplomatically and spending real money to blunt its influence.

The administration has specific fights in mind. Officials have pushed back on Chinese ownership of ports on both ends of the Panama Canal, on Belt and Road infrastructure projects across Latin America, and on Chinese investment in regional telecom networks, according to AP.

Meanwhile, Congress Finds Out Money Already Meant for This Got Spent on the World Cup

Punchbowl News reported that DHS, under Secretary Kristi Noem, took $170 million that Congress specifically set aside in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for tracking Chinese fishing vessels and spent most of it on something else entirely, according to Independent Journal Review's writeup of that reporting.

An anonymous senior congressional official and an unnamed Trump administration official told Punchbowl News that DHS funneled roughly $155 million of that money into counter-drone technology for events like World Cup matches, America's 250th anniversary celebrations, and other major U.S. sporting events. The rest went to Coast Guard communications gear and a Merchant Marine credentialing system.

None of that is what the money was appropriated for. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas wrote the $170 million into the bill specifically for "maritime domain awareness" technology to track Chinese vessels tied to illegal fishing operations. Cruz didn't mince words about what happened. "I have sought to provide resources for those programs, but unfortunately the bulk of the funding has not gone where it needed to go," he told Punchbowl News.

This isn't a small-bore complaint. A January report from the House Select Committee on the CCP found China operates the world's largest distant-water fishing fleet, estimated at up to 16,000 vessels, which the committee says Beijing uses to intimidate other nations, dominate global food supply, and strip fisheries bare.

Cruz assembled a bipartisan group of senators and sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushing the administration to crack down on what they call "illegal, unreported and unregulated" Chinese fishing. The letter argues that exposing vessel ownership to scrutiny turns those ships from assets into liabilities for Beijing, making it harder for the CCP to keep running the operation.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation on the diverted funds.

Together, these developments show a government that talks tough on China while its own agencies redirect congressionally earmarked anti-China money toward soccer security. The State Department wants half a billion more dollars to fight Chinese influence. DHS already had $170 million for exactly that kind of mission and spent 91 percent of it on something unrelated.

No investigation into the DHS fund diversion has been announced, and no charges have been filed. Whether Congress claws back the money, forces an accounting, or lets it slide is now the open question. Cruz has gone public with his frustration. What Congress does next, and whether Noem's DHS faces any formal oversight over the reallocation, remains unresolved as of this week.