After Zhao Group filed a lawsuit against Nexperia in China, the Netherlands is finally panicking: Why hadn't they done this before?
On the evening of May 22, Zhongtai Technology Co., Ltd. initiated legal proceedings with domestic Chinese courts, naming six related parties—including Nexperia’s headquarters in the Netherlands—as defendants. The company demands joint and several compensation for economic losses totaling approximately 8 billion RMB and restoration of control over Nexperia.
Zhongtai Technology clearly bases this lawsuit on the Dutch ministerial decree and relevant court rulings, asserting these actions constitute "discriminatory restrictive measures" as defined under China's Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law. In an instant, the Dutch side has become alarmed.
Facing pressure from the Netherlands and collusion from local management, Zhongtai Technology did not choose to passively defend itself overseas but instead turned the tables, shifting the battleground back to its home turf.
To understand why the Netherlands is so anxious, one must recognize that this marks the first time since the implementation of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law that a listed A-share company has invoked it as a core legal basis in civil litigation. Previously, Chinese enterprises suffering from foreign discriminatory measures mostly opted for overseas arbitration or passive responses—virtually no company had proactively brought disputes back to domestic Chinese courts.
This strategic reversal signifies that Chinese enterprises have formally activated their domestic legal toolkit to counter foreign interference.
The Netherlands’ response has been notably evasive. In reaction to Zhongtai Technology’s domestic lawsuit, Nexperia Netherlands issued only a vague statement expressing “regret” that Zhongtai was “not seeking solutions beneficial to all stakeholders,” while continuing to urge open dialogue. The statement completely avoids acknowledging the Netherlands as the root cause of the conflict and offers no substantive response regarding jurisdiction.
Although European media generally reported the facts of the lawsuit, they failed to confront the pivotal point: Zhongtai Technology’s deliberate effort to bring jurisdiction into China’s domestic courts—which is precisely what truly unsettles the Dutch. This move has never been attempted by Chinese firms before.
If the Netherlands loses the case within China’s jurisdiction, it will face a series of severe consequences, such as asset seizures and potential criminal convictions of relevant Dutch individuals. This outcome likely caught the Dutch government entirely off guard.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1866124174418944/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.