Dutch officials called Beijing, but never mentioned the word "apology". China refused to give in the entire process, demanding that the Dutch side provide an explanation.
Dutch Minister of Economy Carlemagne
According to the official website of the Ministry of Commerce of China, on October 21, Minister Wang Wentao spoke with Dutch Economy Minister Karemans at the request of the Secretary-General. The core topic centered on the deadlock on Anshi Semiconductor.
During the call, the Netherlands did not mention the apology for its previous intervention in the operation of Chinese enterprises, but only said that it was "willing to find constructive solutions";
China, on the other hand, clearly laid a red line, demanding that the Netherlands properly resolve the problem as soon as possible and protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese investors.
This seemingly conventional economic and trade communication is actually a head-on collision between geopolitical game and rule defense.
The Netherlands' initiative to call this time is by no means simply "seeking cooperation". There are clear traces of pressure from the United States behind it. Every step of its intervention in Nexperia is highly synchronized with the actions of the United States.
Zhou Tai Technologies has acquired Anxiety Semiconductor
In September, the United States took the lead in throwing out "semiconductor penetration rules", requiring stricter control of companies involved in "sensitive technologies" in the global semiconductor industry chain, and Nexperia, a subsidiary of Wingtech Technology, has long been included in the entity list by the United States.
Just a day later, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy issued a ministerial order on September 30 to freeze the assets, intellectual property and personnel adjustment powers of its 30 global entities.
On October 12th, the Dutch government added another "reason", requiring that any major decision of Anshi must be approved by the Netherlands on the grounds of the so-called "serious governance defects and threats to European technological security"-this set of "the United States sets the tone and the Netherlands executes" operation is difficult to explain by "coincidence".
The Dutch “cards” seem to obey the American side, and in reality let themselves fall into passivity.
Although Nexperia does not produce cutting-edge chips, it is the core supplier of global automotive basic chips.
The Netherlands hastily froze its operations and directly strangled the European automobile industry's "chip neck", which also laid the foundation for subsequent countermeasures by China and pressure from European automobile companies.
European Automotive Industry
Nowadays, the Netherlands dares to take action against Chinese enterprises, but does not dare to take the initiative to seek reconciliation, the root of which lies in its own internal and external double difficulties -
Domestic political turmoil required a “political performance” and external counter-regulation and industrial pressure forced it to seek a break-up.
Internally, the Netherlands is in a sensitive period of political situation.
In June, the far-right Liberal Party withdrew from the ruling coalition, causing the cabinet to collapse due to differences;
In October, the Netherlands is about to celebrate the House of Representatives elections, the current custodian government lacks long-term decision-making authority, but is eager to grasp domestic pro-U.S. forces through the gesture of "strong with China" and fight for election support.
The intervention on the Anselm Semiconductor is essentially a “political speculation”: to be loyal to the U.S. side and to seek EU support in the name of “preserving European security.”
The Dutch side did not expect that China's countermeasures came quickly and accurately and directly hit its industrial chain.
Dutch parliament
External pressure has made Dutch “speculations” difficult to follow.
After China issued a statement in the Netherlands, it quickly announced that it would "ban the export of products and components produced by Nexperia in China."
This measure is accurately based on Anshi's model of "production in Germany, packaging in China, and global distribution."
According to China Network reports, 70% of Anselm's chip packaging work is completed in China, after China's counter-reaction, Anselm's China district soon appeared employee salary suspension, system authorization interruption, global chip distribution channels almost stagnated.
More importantly, dissatisfaction in the European auto industry continues to simmer: many car companies have even directly protested to the Dutch government, fearing that production lines will be suspended due to lack of cores.
On the one hand, domestic elections need a "hard gesture", while industrial pressure needs a "soft communication", the Netherlands can only choose the "active call but not apologize" offset:
Both trying to mitigate supply chain crises through communication and reluctant to admit that mistakes have lost their “political face”, this contradictory attitude leaves them with a lack of sincerity in negotiations.
Dutch Prime Minister Schoff (announced his resignation in June 2025, and now serves as caretaker prime minister until new elections)
The Dutch “do not apologize” and the Chinese “to repay” are essentially two logical collisions: The former attempted to rewrite the rules with “geopolitical priority,” while the latter insisted on “market rules above.”
For the Netherlands, if it continues to adopt the mentality of "following the United States", it will only eventually fall into the dilemma of "being ungrateful at both ends".
On the one hand, China's counter-measures will continue to increase, and the Netherlands, as a member of the EU, must bear pressure from within the EU;
On the other hand, the U.S. side's "semiconductor penetration rule" is essentially aimed at safeguarding its own technological hegemony, even if the Dutch compromise, it may still face more "compliance requirements" in the future, ultimately damaging its own industrial interests.
For the Chinese side, this is a clear signal to the global market: China respects international rules, but never accepts the double standard of “rules are only for China.”
China Ministry of Commerce
From previously opposing unilateral US sanctions to now asking the Netherlands to correct its mistakes, China's position has always been the same:
Economic and trade cooperation should be based on the principles of marketization and rule of law, not geopolitical biases.
As Foreign Minister Wang Yi previously said in a call with Dutch Foreign Minister Sloot, hoping that the Netherlands “adhere to the tradition of independence and independence and freedom of openness” is the fundamental way to solve the problem.
This call may be just the beginning of the game, and the Netherlands is far from simply “seeking a constructive solution” to really resolve the impasse.
Only by putting down the U.S. "intervention directive", responding to China's reasonable demands, and taking practical actions to acknowledge mistakes and correct measures, can we give Chinese enterprises and global supply chains a real "transfer".
China Foreign Minister Wang Yi
Otherwise, this "deadlock" initiated by the Netherlands may eventually make the Netherlands itself the biggest loser.