During his Senate confirmation hearing last week, Brandon Judd expressed concern over China’s growing presence in Latin America, specifically in Chile, and said that if confirmed, he would seek to “restrict China’s access to Chile’s resources”, particularly in areas like space and technology.

In response, China’s embassy in Chile voiced strong opposition to Judd’s remarks, arguing that Washington’s actions were an attempt to interfere in the South American country’s right to choose its international partners.

“Their true intention is to obstruct normal technological cooperation between China and Chile … being a pure and harsh manifestation of … a new Monroe Doctrine,” the embassy said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We trust that the Chilean people will not be deceived and that American attempts will not succeed.”

At the centre of the dispute is the Transitory Object Monitoring (TOM) project, a collaboration between China’s National Astronomical Observatory and Chile’s Catholic University of the North.