Dutch Foreign Minister rejects US move to cut off China

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Dutch Foreign Minister rejects US move to cut off China

Dutch Foreign Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher has expressed resistance to Washington's attempts to cut off China from semiconductor technology, sending a message that the United States has tried to maintain its hegemony in the technology sphere is shaky or even beginning to crumble.

The Dutch trade minister told lawmakers on Tuesday that the Netherlands will make its own decision regarding ASML's chip gear sales to China amid trade rule talks with the US and other allies. She told lawmakers at the Hague parliament: "It is important that we defend our own interests - our national safety, but also our economic interests." There are reports that the European Union is working on a number of contentious trade issues with Washington. Countries, most vocally France, have said the measures could damage European economies and have raised the possibility of filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization.

The Netherlands is home to ASML Holding NV, which dominates the market for one-of-a-kind, cutting-edge chip-making equipment that has become a focus of the US government's attempts to limit China.

China is the third-largest market for the Dutch company, representing 14.7 percent of its global sales, to say nothing of the great potential of the Chinese market. ASML can't ship its advanced ultraviolet lithography systems EUV to China because it can't get an export license from the Dutch government, due to pressure from the US.

Alan Estevez, the US undersecretary of commerce for industry and security, will be in the Netherlands this month to talk about export controls.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Washington will have to convince European countries to follow its unilateralism at the cost of their own economic interests, regardless of the results of the talks.

The world is not what it used to be. It has become more democratic and pluralistic. It is unfair and unjustifiable for the US to take it for granted that countries will do their bidding when they don't care for their interests.

As far as the global economy is concerned, Washington has been doing with economic sanctions in the name of national security, which has seriously disrupted the global industry chains and supply chains, which has resulted in economic losses for many companies and countries. Washington's way of politicizing economic activities has become a scourge for the development of the global economy.

If Washington keeps its geopolitical objectives ahead of everything, and pressures other countries into acting as its accomplice, an increasing number of countries, including its allies in Europe, will turn their backs on it to defend their own interests and safeguard the global economic order from being derailed.