Speaking from Beijing during the first visit by a Dutch trade minister to China since 2018, Trade Minister Sjoerd Sjoerdsma revealed that both nations are working “extremely well” to move past a bitter, national security-fueled dispute involving chipmaker Nexperia, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
“We had a frank discussion, but also forward-looking, because I think both of us wanted to make a clean break with the previous period,” Sjoerdsma said after meeting Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao.
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The diplomatic scramble comes after a dramatic corporate fracture. Nexperia, a major Dutch-headquartered chipmaker owned by China’s Wingtech Technology, imploded into a civil war after Dutch authorities intervened in late 2025 citing national security concerns.
In a stunning move of corporate defiance, Nexperia’s Chinese arm essentially declared independence from its European headquarters. Backed by its parent company, the Chinese unit began sourcing its vital silicon wafers from domestic suppliers, bypassing European oversight entirely and sending shockwaves through global tech supply chains.
While both governments agree that Nexperia’s European and Chinese entities must ultimately negotiate their own peace treaty, the political intervention signals that neither superpower wants a messy corporate divorce to spark a full-blown trade war.
The diplomatic reset arrives at a critical moment. The Netherlands is caught directly in the crossfire of intensifying tech competition between Washington and Beijing.
U.S. lawmakers are currently weighing the “MATCH Act,” a piece of legislation aimed at further freezing China out of advanced chipmaking gear—specifically targeting Dutch semiconductor giant ASML.
Despite the immense pressure from Washington to tighten the screws, Minister Sjoerdsma firmly defended Europe’s current strategy, asserting that existing Dutch export controls are already highly effective at keeping sensitive technology out of dangerous hands. For now, the Netherlands is betting that diplomacy can keep the global tech ecosystem from fracturing completely.
