Wang Wentao accused the Dutch government of “undue administrative interference” in the case of technology company Nexperia
The Chinese Commerce Minister urged that “concrete measures” be taken to resolve the conflict surrounding the Nexperia technology company during a meeting in Beijing with the Spanish Economy Minister, according to the Global Times newspaper.
Wang Wentao accused the Dutch Government of “undue administrative interference” in the case of the Chinese-owned technology company Nexperia, which he classified as a violation of the “spirit of the contract” and the origin of the current “instability” in the global semiconductor chain, reported the English-language Chinese newspaper, close to the Government.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce released a statement on Thursday evening in which it expressed its intention to continue dialogue with the Netherlands “in a rational and responsible manner”, but also said it hoped that The Hague would “repeal as quickly as possible” the decisions regarding the company and “correct incorrect practices”.
The Spanish Minister of Economy, Commerce and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, who accompanied the state visit of King Philip VI of Spain this week to China, highlighted at the meeting, which took place last Tuesday, that Spain “gives great importance” to the economic relationship with China and assured that Madrid is willing to speak with the Netherlands about the case, since the stability of the chip supply chain “benefits all parties”.
The Dutch Government initiated an intervention based on alleged reasons of national security and risk of technological transfer, issuing on September 30 an administrative order that led to judicial intervention in Nexperia and the dismissal of the executive director, Zhang Xuezheng, founder of Wingtech Technology, of which the Dutch technology company is a subsidiary.
On October 26, according to Beijing, Nexperia suspended the shipment of silicon chips to the assembly unit in Dongguan, southern China, where the chips are completed and then sold in various sectors and markets, which made it impossible to “maintain normal production”.
Nexperia in the Netherlands alleged that the Chinese unit had started to demand that its products be transacted in yuan, instead of dollars or euros, violating contractual provisions and that the suspension was decided after “the commercially viable time” had passed. Nexperia is financially independent from the holding company Wingtech.
Nexperia, founded in the Dutch city of Nimega and acquired by Wingtech in 2019, produces semiconductors commonly used in automobiles and electronic devices.
The factory in Dongguan, southern China, has maintained limited operations since the imposition of export bans.
The impact of the conflict over Nexperia has already begun to affect the automotive industry, having affected, in October, the also Japanese Honda, which stopped production at a factory in Mexico and had to adjust production at factories in the United States of America and Canada due to a lack of components, and finally, Nissan, which announced at the beginning of the month the reduction of production at two factories in Japan due to a shortage of parts that use Nexperia semiconductors.
Since the beginning of the dispute, manufacturers such as Volkswagen or Mercedes-Benz have warned of possible stoppages in assembly lines due to the lack of chips.
At the beginning of the month, the White House announced that Beijing will allow Nexperia to resume the export of ‘chips’ produced in China, within the scope of the trade agreement reached between the two countries, without any practical consequences of this understanding being known until now.
