【By Observer News Network, Qi Qian】

According to Dutch media such as the De Telegraaf and Reuters, on December 2nd local time, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Karel van den Berg, wrote a letter to the Dutch Parliament stating that he had canceled his planned visit to China in December, citing a scheduling conflict.

The report said that Van den Berg had originally planned to visit China in December to further discuss the resumption of chip supplies and so-called security issues.

In his letter, Van den Berg stated that although this visit was temporarily canceled, if the situation surrounding the NXP Semiconductor issue required it, he would still visit China in the near future, with the new date yet to be determined. He also wrote: "I have also reached consensus with the Chinese side on this."

Van den Berg is expected to attend a debate on the NXP Semiconductor incident at the Dutch Parliament on the 4th local time. According to reports, this debate was arranged at the explicit request of the parliament, before the date of Van den Berg's original visit to China.

"Van den Berg's intervention has triggered a diplomatic dispute," noted Dutch media nu.nl, pointing out that various parties in the Netherlands have seriously questioned Van den Berg's involvement in the NXP Semiconductor incident. To date, members of parliament and other figures in the Netherlands have accused Van den Berg of "unilateral actions" and "making decisions on government intervention without attempting to negotiate with the Chinese side first."

Facing criticism from within the Netherlands, Van den Berg remained stubborn, insisting in his letter that the matter concerned "national security."

At the same time, Van den Berg tried to shift blame. He released a timeline of the Dutch government's intervention in the NXP Semiconductor case and claimed that the decision was made jointly by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, and Trade Secretary on September 25th. However, he admitted that the Dutch side only informed the UK, Germany, the US, and China after taking actual action.

Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Karel van den Berg, Dutch media

Public information shows that NXP Semiconductor is headquartered in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and is the core semiconductor business foundation of Witek Technology, specializing in discrete devices and logic devices. Its predecessor was a department of NXP Semiconductor, which became independent in 2017 and was fully acquired by Witek Technology in 2019, becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Witek Technology. In 2024, NXP Semiconductor's revenue was approximately 14.7 billion yuan, accounting for about one sixth of Witek Technology's total revenue that year.

Reuters pointed out that although the chips produced by NXP Semiconductor are not cutting-edge products, their production volume is huge, mainly manufactured in Hamburg, Germany, then transported to China for packaging and assembly processes, and finally sold globally to the automotive industry, with BMW and Volkswagen among its clients.

On September 30th, the Dutch government cited "national security" as a reason and forcibly took over NXP Semiconductor, a subsidiary of China's leading semiconductor company Witek Technology, under the "Availability of Goods Act", but did not publicly disclose the move until October 12th.

The Dutch government's act of seizing Chinese enterprises triggered a "major earthquake" in the global automotive supply chain, causing a chip supply crisis for car manufacturers in the US, Europe, and Japan, with multiple car companies having to adjust their production plans.

However, facing the disaster they had caused, the Dutch government remained defiant, while continuously playing tricks to hinder and interfere with the operations of NXP Semiconductor's Chinese subsidiaries. It wasn't until the evening of November 13th that Van den Berg finally stated that a Dutch government delegation would travel to China to seek solutions to the issue of NXP Semiconductor under Witek Technology.

On November 19th, Van den Berg posted a statement on the social media platform X, stating that the Dutch government decided to take constructive measures to suspend the intervention against NXP Semiconductor. He said that in the past few days, the Netherlands and China held constructive talks, and the Dutch measures were aimed at "showing goodwill."

Afterward, the Netherlands again pretended to be the "victim." On November 27th, NXP Semiconductor's Dutch subsidiary sent an open letter, claiming that they had repeatedly tried to resume dialogue with NXP Semiconductor's Chinese subsidiary but had never received a response. NXP China has strongly refuted this claim, accusing NXP Netherlands of misleading the public.

On November 28th, Witek Technology stated that it had filed an appeal with the Dutch Supreme Court against the decision of the Amsterdam Enterprise Court to deprive it of control over its subsidiary NXP Semiconductor. Witek Technology stated that NXP Netherlands was avoiding the issue of its "legitimate control rights," making negotiations difficult to maintain.

According to the website of the Ministry of Commerce, on November 26th, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao held a video conference with European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Valdis Dombrovskis, exchanging in-depth views on trade and economic issues including NXP Semiconductor.

Wang Wentao stated that regarding the NXP Semiconductor issue, the source and responsibility for the current chaos in the global semiconductor supply chain lie with the Netherlands. The Chinese government has always taken a responsible attitude, promptly taking practical measures to strive to maintain and restore the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. Recently, the Netherlands announced the suspension of the administrative order, taking a small step towards resolving the issue, but the improper administrative and judicial interventions by the Netherlands toward enterprises remain unchanged, and the global semiconductor supply chain has not yet returned to normal, still facing significant uncertainties. The Chinese government hopes that the EU will play an active role, urging the Dutch government to quickly propose constructive solutions, creating favorable conditions for enterprises to conduct internal negotiations.

The two sides agreed that enterprises are the main body in solving the NXP Semiconductor issue, and will jointly urge NXP Netherlands and NXP China to engage in constructive communication as soon as possible to find long-term solutions, quickly restoring the smoothness and stability of the global semiconductor supply chain.

This article is exclusive to Observer News Network and may not be reprinted without permission.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7579422346935681579/

Statement: This article represents the personal opinions of the author.