In the face of frequent pressure from the United States, a senior Dutch official said that the United States should not expect the Netherlands to adopt the same approach as the United States to restrict exports to China, and will formulate export control regulations to China following self-assessment.
Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher said in an interview on Friday (18th): “The Netherlands will not follow the actions of the United States. We will evaluate ourselves and discuss with partners such as Japan and the United States.”
Schreinemacher said the Netherlands might impose its own export controls on China and that the government needed more time to decide on potential norms, without specifying what those measures would be.
It is the first time Dutch officials have publicly stated their stance on the issue as the United States aggressively encircles China. In order to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductor technology, the Biden administration is actively wooing allies and promoting multilateral agreements that can check and balance China.
The remarks also underscore the potential challenge the United States faces in persuading its allies to join the fight once morest China. Even though, like the United States, the Netherlands and Japan have many misgivings regarding China, the two countries still want to maintain market access to China. Considering that the Dutch company ASML (ASML) dominates the global semiconductor equipment market, the Netherlands is in this struggle. The role played in it is also crucial.
Under the restrictions of the US ban, ASML has been unable to ship extreme ultraviolet lithography machines (EUV) to China, but it can still supply older models of deep ultraviolet lithography machines (DUV) and other products. Some semiconductor equipment manufacturers had previously estimated that the ban would bring billions of dollars in lost revenue, while ASML and Tokyo Electron believed the impact would be small.
Several senior U.S. administration officials, including U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Alan Estevez, will travel to the Netherlands this month to discuss export controls, but Bloomberg does not expect an immediate agreement in the talks.
To ensure countries do not bow to US pressure, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte at this week’s G20 summit to refrain from disrupting global trade.
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