China urges Netherlands to continue cooperation ahead of Dutch curbs on hi-tech exports

Chinese firms appear to be stockpiling hi-tech chip-making equipment before the Netherlands’ export controls take effect

Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Dutch counterpart Hanke Bruins Slot that China wants to give full play to an ‘open, pragmatic and comprehensive’ partnership

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Chinese buyers are scrambling to buy lithography machines from Dutch firms such as ASML before export controls come into force. Photo: Reuters

Published: 4:56pm, 9 Nov 2023

China has urged the Netherlands to continue cooperating in fields such as technology and supply chains before export controls on Dutch chip-making equipment come into force.

In a phone call on Wednesday with Hanke Bruins Slot, who became the new Dutch Foreign Minister in September, her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi said Beijing was ready to give full play to the “open, pragmatic and comprehensive” partnership between the two countries.

“We hope the Netherland can adhere to the spirit of independence, freedom and openness, follow international trade rules and uphold the spirit of contract, and join forces with China to promote bilateral cooperation on the economy and trade, science and technology, innovation and other fields, and maintain the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain,” Wang said, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China’s imports from the Netherlands soared last month as Chinese companies appear to have been stockpiling hi-tech chip-making equipment before export controls take effect next year.

The United States has been working to curb China’s ability to source technology that could be used to bolster its military capabilities and is reportedly pressuring allies to follow suit.

The Dutch government has followed Japan, another chip-making heavyweight, in slapping restrictions on exports to China. These restrictions legally took effect on September 1, with a “grace period” until January 1.

China has worked for years to develop its own lithography systems, but its best home-made machine still lags far behind the Dutch multinational ASML and Japan’s Nikon, according to industry insiders.