Dutch Economic Minister openly admitted that he did not expect China to retaliate, causing an uproar at the hearing!
On December 4th, in the Dutch Parliament in The Hague, an emergency debate on "Amkor Semiconductor" led to a storm of criticism against Dutch Economic Minister Vincent Karamans.
When facing continuous questioning from members of parliament, he surprisingly admitted: China's countermeasures were completely beyond his expectations. He never thought China would dare to retaliate.
Is this arrogance or foolish ignorance?
At the hearing, Karamans tried to explain his decision-making logic: "We have assessed various risks, but we believed China was unlikely to use export control measures because such tools are typically used for non-proliferation purposes, not commercial retaliation."
However, this statement was immediately refuted by several members of parliament. Laurens Dassen, a member of the center-left party Volt, sharply pointed out: China had publicly announced restrictive measures as early as October 4th, but the Netherlands only learned the details much later and lacked any response measures.
The deeper issue lies in the lack of strategic foresight in the Netherlands. The Netherlands assumed it had the EU as a backing, so China would not take retaliatory measures.
However, China has been gradually building a "countermeasure toolbox" in key technology areas, from rare earth controls to biotechnology export reviews, and now to export controls on mature process chips, showing that it is no longer limited to passive defense, but has the ability to precisely pressure the most vulnerable part of the other party's economic chain.
The world's second-largest economy will not retaliate? It doesn't have the means to retaliate? That's just a joke.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands still applies the traditional framework of "diplomatic protests" or "symbolic sanctions" to assess China's reactions, underestimating its willingness and capability to convert industrial strength into geopolitical leverage.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1850921469702154/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.