According to a message on the website of the Ministry of Commerce on November 14, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce answered questions from reporters regarding the remarks by the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Karemans, on the issue of NXP Semiconductor.
Reporter: On November 13, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Karemans, gave an interview to The Guardian of the UK, talking about the NXP Semiconductor issue, saying "even in hindsight, we would have made the same decision" and "this serves as a warning to leaders around the world." What is the comment from the Ministry of Commerce on this?
Answer: The Chinese side has noted the relevant statements made by the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Karemans, in his recent media interviews. The Chinese side expresses extreme disappointment and strong dissatisfaction with such comments that confuse right and wrong, distort facts, and act unilaterally. The profound lessons brought by this semiconductor supply chain crisis to the entire world are that it is unacceptable to improperly interfere with business operations through administrative measures. Before the Dutch government issued an executive order on September 30 and the Dutch enterprise court made a wrong ruling on October 8, the global semiconductor supply chain was stable and secure. However, the Dutch side's improper and forced intervention, and the takeover of 99% of the shares of a 100% state-owned private enterprise, which violates the spirit of contract and is an imprudent and impulsive act, has triggered waves of turbulence and chaos in the global semiconductor supply chain, becoming the root cause of the turmoil.
Reports show that relying solely on some people having a meeting at the minister's office, the Dutch government hastily enacted a ministerial executive order using the "Act on Availability of Goods," a law formulated during the Cold War but never implemented, and pushed the court to make a ruling within a very short time. This approach is both reckless and absurd. The Netherlands is a country that upholds the rule of law, but in this incident, some people in the Dutch government did not strictly follow legal procedures, nor did they protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign enterprises. Instead, they forcibly took over the shares of a subsidiary of a Chinese listed company, seriously damaging the business environment and the credibility of the government in the Netherlands.
The Chinese side has always taken a responsible attitude and taken concrete measures to exempt the export of goods used for civilian purposes that comply with regulations, striving to the greatest extent to restore the smoothness and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. In the short term, under the efforts of the Chinese side, the semiconductor supply chain crisis has somewhat eased. However, due to the actions of the Dutch side, the global semiconductor supply chain remains vulnerable, and the situation remains severe. The Dutch side disregards the safety and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain, not only lacking actual actions to solve the problem, but also allowing NXP (Netherlands) to refuse to supply wafers to Chinese companies and send legal letters to prevent Chinese subcontractors from supplying outside, leading to many car manufacturers still facing the risk of supply interruption, escalating the internal conflict of one company into a systemic risk of the global semiconductor supply chain.
The position and attitude of the Chinese side have always been consistent. The Chinese side has agreed to the Dutch side sending personnel to China for consultation and is willing to work with the Dutch side to quickly resolve the current crisis, starting from the overall situation of maintaining the security and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. However, it should be emphasized that the Chinese side hopes the Dutch side comes with constructive solutions rather than just going through the motions or repeating old tunes; it hopes the Dutch side comes with the intention to solve the problem rather than creating new problems and conflicts. The Chinese side hopes the Dutch side will genuinely demonstrate the willingness to cooperate sincerely with China and put forward substantive and constructive solutions to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
Edit: Liu Yingluan
First review: Ma Huili Second review: Sun Ruizhong Third review: Guan Yanhui
Source: Website of the Ministry of Commerce
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7572716506115539475/
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