The U.S. government has initiated an extraordinary outreach campaign to foreign allies, trying to persuade wireless and internet providers in these countries to avoid telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co., according to people familiar with the situation.

American officials have briefed their government counterparts and telecom executives in friendly countries where Huawei equipment is already in wide use, including Germany, Italy and Japan, about what they see as cybersecurity risks, these people said. The U.S. is also considering increasing financial aid for telecommunications development in countries that shun Chinese-made equipment, some of these people say.

One U.S. concern centers on the use of Chinese telecom equipment in countries that host American military bases, according to people familiar with the matter. The Defense Department has its own satellites and telecom network for especially sensitive communications, but most traffic at many military installations travels through commercial networks.

The international effort extends the battle lines of a U.S. campaign to keep Huawei electronics out of the U.S. Some officials see the initiative as part of a broader technological Cold War between U.S.-led allies and China for control of a world that is increasingly digitally connected—and thus increasingly vulnerable to surveillance and malfeasance. They fear the rise of technological giants that could benefit authoritarian governments, including irritants or outright foes of the U.S.

The initiative also coincides with rising tensions between Washington and Beijing on other fronts this year as the Trump administration moves to counter what some U.S. officials say they see as years of unbridled Chinese aggression. Washington has placed tariffs on some imports from China, drawing retaliation from Beijing. The U.S. has also tightened up foreign-investment rules targeting Chinese deal making.