China Urges Netherlands To Ignore U.S. Curbs On Chip Exports

Chinese Premier Li Qiang has hailed the Netherlands as a "priority partner" within the European Union (EU) and called for jointly maintaining the operations of global supply chains, making him the latest high-ranking official to curry favor with the Hague and Brussels amid heightened tensions with the US, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Photo Insert: Given the pressure from Washington, the Dutch government has never granted ASML a license to sell its most advanced products to Chinese customers.

"China is willing to work together with the Netherlands to promote cooperation in various sectors to yield new results," he said during a phone call with his Dutch counterpart on Tuesday, according to Xinhua.

While there was no mention of the US in the report, Li highlighted the importance of jointly maintaining the smooth flow of industrial and supply chains.

"China hopes the Netherlands can help ensure that Europe will adhere to strategic autonomy, making greater contributions to the development of China-Europe ties," he said.

China is dependent on ASML for lithography machines. ASML is partly owned by US investors, which means it will ignore China’s impassioned plea. Beijing is notorious for industrial piracy but has failed to develop autochthonous technology to build lithography machines.

The call with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte came just days after Vice-President Han Zheng's three-day visit to the European country, where he met Rutte, King Willem-Alexander, and heads of Dutch chipmaking equipment giant ASML.

In a Twitter post, Rutte said of his call with Li: "We discussed topics including our countries' cooperation on trade and climate. Views were also exchanged on the war in Ukraine."

Given the pressure from Washington, the Dutch government has never granted ASML a license to sell its most advanced products to Chinese customers. The Dutch firm has a near-monopoly on the manufacturing of advanced lithography machines that are needed to produce cutting-edge chips.

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