After a meeting at the White House, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and US President Joe Biden discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chain security, and the upcoming Summit for Democracy, which will be hosted by the US, the Netherlands, Costa Rica, South Korea, and Zambia.
The US hoped to bolster allies' support for measures that seek to restrict China's access to powerful computing chips, the development and upkeep of supercomputers, and the production of advanced semiconductors, which is why the extensive meeting on Tuesday was also planned.
The largest company in the Netherlands is ASML Holding, a significant supplier to manufacturers of semiconductor equipment. A significant client of the business has been China.
The White House did not specifically address the matter in a statement released after the meeting, but it did indicate that the two leaders spoke about "the importance of secure supply chains and essential technology to our national security and economic development."
Rutte similarly avoided mentioning discussions of export restrictions in a series of tweets, concentrating instead on the conflict in Ukraine.
Biden stated earlier in the day that Washington and Amsterdam were collaborating to "address the challenges of China" as the two presidents sat in the Oval Office.
While praising the roughly 2.5 billion euros ($2.7bn) Amsterdam has committed to support Urkaine this year, Rutte condemned the Russian missile strike on Dnipro on Saturday that left at least 40 people dead. The funds will be used for military hardware as well as humanitarian and diplomatic initiatives.
The Dutch leader also hinted that his country will follow Germany in supplying Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems built in the US.
"We intend to collaborate with you and Germany on the Patriots air defense system project. We participated in it, in my opinion," Rutte added.Export limitations
However, the meeting's preparations on Tuesday were heavily influenced by US export restrictions directed at China.The Biden administration contends that the new restrictions, which were made public by the US Department of Commerce in October, are essential because China can use semiconductors to develop sophisticated military systems, including weapons of mass destruction, as well as accelerate and improve its military decision-making, planning, and logistics.
Dutch Trade Minister Liesje Schreinemacher stated in an interview on Monday that Amsterdam would not automatically accept the new US limitations.
On the Dutch Buitenhof television program, Schreinemacher stated, "We've been discussing with the Americans for a long time, but they came up with new guidelines in October, so that changes the playing field." So you can't say that they have been putting pressure on us to sign for two years and just now. We also won't.
The trade minister added that Washington's concerns over an over-reliance on Asia, where 80 percent of advanced chips are produced, and the possibility that the technology may be used for military purposes, were "legitimate."
The Dutch government has refused ASML permission to deliver China its most sophisticated lithography machines, which design and create semiconductors, since 2019 as a result of pressure from the Donald Trump administration of the United States.
However, the business did sell outdated equipment to China for 2 billion euros ($2.1bn) in
Peter Wennink, CEO of ASML, had previously stated that he thought the US export restrictions would only have a "minimal impact" on the shipment of the equipment.
Rutte's visit follows Biden's last week hosting of Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, another significant figure in the semiconductor industry.
Biden and Kishida had "extremely fruitful" discussions about semiconductor-related export limitations during the meeting, according to Kurt Campbell, the White House's Indo-Pacific coordinator, who spoke at a separate event on Tuesday. Koji Tomita, the ambassador of Japan to the US, stated at the same gathering that both parties anticipated progress on the semiconductor problem in the upcoming weeks.
[zombify_post]
0 Comments