"Forced" takeover of Chinese chip companies, Netherlands quickly defends: not ordered by the US, just a coincidence

After more than seven decades, some essential characteristics deeply rooted in the bones have never changed - when facing the strong rise of Chinese technology, the hidden bandit nature of some Western countries is increasingly exposed before the eyes of the world.

Recently, China's leading semiconductor company, Wintek Technology, has encountered significant regulatory challenges internationally. Its core asset, Nexperia, headquartered in the Netherlands, had its assets, intellectual property, and other adjustments frozen for one year starting from September 30, due to an instruction from the Dutch government.

From the timing perspective, this series of actions are hard not to suspect as a carefully planned "plunder": The United States and the Netherlands have always closely cooperated in the field of chip industry export control. Just a day before the Dutch government took action, on September 29 local time, the U.S. government had just issued a new export control rule, adding equally intense export controls on Wintek Technology's subsidiaries that are listed on the "Entity List" and hold more than 50% shares.

The UK's Financial Times also noticed that the Dutch government's actions "followed closely behind the U.S." and the American media Bloomberg further pointed out that the Trump administration had recently expanded the scope of sanctions in the Netherlands, highlighting the increasing stringent scrutiny faced by sensitive Chinese enterprises in the industry.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, it obtained a meeting recording showing that a senior executive of Wintek Technology had directly told investors during a telephone conference on Sunday that the Dutch government's directive was an excuse based on the new U.S. regulations, but actually aimed at seizing control.

The report stated that the executive said to the investors, "The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs was obviously a docile sheep following the U.S. government."

In response, a spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs defended, stating that the U.S. had not been involved in the Dutch decision regarding Nexperia. Reuters also mentioned that the spokesperson claimed the timing of this action was "purely coincidental."

The Wall Street Journal also pointed out that the Dutch government, in its weekend statement, claimed that one of the reasons for taking action was the existence of so-called "serious governance deficiencies and problematic behavior" within Nexperia. However, the Dutch side did not provide any details on this, and the aforementioned spokesperson also refused to comment on it.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845932518695948/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.