China is distributing intrusive tools of surveillance and social control throughout Latin America to “surround the United States” with potential threats, warns a top senator.

“China’s goal is to displace the United States, and they can do that by wreaking havoc in the Western Hemisphere,” Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner told the Washington Examiner.

That’s the strategy behind China’s decision to support Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who is clinging to power almost three months after President Trump and other leaders of Western democracies recognized opposition lawmaker Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim president, the Republican said. China has exported technology that helps the South American socialist simultaneously monitor and strong-arm the Venezuelan people, according to U.S. and regional officials.