Chile reportedly suspended plans for a major China-backed undersea communications cable after a U.S. official warned that government officials and their families could face travel restrictions if the project moved forward.

Chilean authorities had initially approved the proposed 12,000-mile undersea cable linking the country with Hong Kong, describing it as an important project that could strengthen national connectivity and extend communications infrastructure to remote Easter Island.

However, the government’s position reportedly changed shortly after the authorization was signed in January.

Guillermo Petersen, chief of cabinet at Chile’s telecommunications ministry, said a senior U.S. Embassy official in Santiago met with him later that day and raised concerns about the project’s potential cybersecurity implications.

According to Petersen, the U.S. official warned that the Chinese-backed cable could increase Chile’s exposure to cyberattacks. He said the official also indicated that Washington could impose travel restrictions on Chilean officials involved in the project, as well as their spouses and children, if the government proceeded.

The meeting reportedly lasted only six minutes, but Chile subsequently put the project on hold.

“It was basically a threat,” Claudio Araya, who was Chile’s telecommunications undersecretary at the time, said this month.

The episode comes amid a broader U.S. effort to counter China’s growing economic and strategic influence across Latin America.

Under President Donald Trump, Washington has increasingly used tariffs, economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure as part of its approach toward governments across the region.

Visa restrictions have also emerged as a targeted diplomatic tool, allowing Washington to exert pressure directly on foreign officials and, in some cases, their families.

The Chilean cable dispute highlights the intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China over critical infrastructure in Latin America, particularly telecommunications networks that both powers increasingly view as central to economic and national security.