India signed an agreement to set up hybrid power projects on northern Sri Lankan islands Tuesday in a deal seen as a strategic victory in its competition with China for influence in the Indian Ocean.

India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who was visiting Colombo, witnessed the signing along with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Peiris, the Indian embassy said.

In December, China announced it was suspending its own plan to build power plants on three Sri Lankan islands due to security concerns.

An Indian official said Tuesday he couldn’t confirm if the plants in the new agreement are to be built on the same islands earmarked for the Chinese project. The power source and other details about the projects weren’t available.

India considers Sri Lanka, just across the narrow Palk Strait off India’s southeastern coast, to be within its sphere of influence. The island nation is in the middle of a key sea route connecting East and West and is important to China’s ambitious “One Belt One Road” global infrastructure initiative.