President Xi Jinping urged Dutch leader Mark Rutte to avoid “decoupling” as the US pressures the Netherlands to avoid selling high-end chips to China.
(Bloomberg) — President Xi Jinping urged Dutch leader Mark Rutte to avoid “decoupling” as the US pressures the Netherlands to avoid selling high-end chips to China.
In a meeting on Tuesday in Bali, Indonesia, where they are both attending the Group of 20 summit, Xi stressed the need for cooperation and said China would work with the Netherlands to “maintain and practice genuine multilateralism,” state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“We must oppose the politicization of economic and trade issues and maintain the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain,” Xi told Rutte.
The Netherlands is home to ASML Holding NV, which has a virtual monopoly on a type of machine needed to make the most advanced chips. The US is pressuring the Netherlands and other security partners to comply with its sweeping curbs on the sale of semiconductors and chipmaking equipment to China.
Biden’s Chip Curbs Beat Trump in Forcing World to Align on China
Rutte is due to visit semiconductor giant South Korea later this week, with the US export controls high on the agenda. Since early October, American officials have repeatedly said that if allies do not align with Washington on the latest rules, they could ban sales of foreign chip equipment that contains even the smallest amount of US technology.
In a meeting on Monday night, Xi and US President Joe Biden agreed to resume cooperation across a broad range of areas — one of the biggest steps in recent years to improve ties between the world’s biggest economies.
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