The Dutch government is working on legislation that would be used to bar Chinese students from university programs on sensitive technologies, including semiconductors and defense, people with knowledge of the matter said.
While language in the planned legislation would likely avoid specifically mentioning China, the clear intention is to prevent students from the Asian nation gaining access to sensitive material in their studies, the people said, asking not to be identified as the deliberations are private.
The measures, still in draft phase, are the latest escalation in a diplomatic fight between the Netherlands and China over the semiconductor industry. The Dutch government earlier this year agreed to join the US effort to further restrict exports of chip technology to China and started an investigation into the takeover of local chipmaker Nowi by Chinese-owned firm Nexperia, stoking tensions with one of its biggest trading partners.
Photo: Reuters
The Dutch Ministry of Education confirmed in an e-mailed statement it is working on measures to introduce a mandatory screening of students and researchers in sensitive subject areas.
It added that any measures would be country-neutral and not target any specific country.
A recent Dutch intelligence agency report claimed that China “poses the greatest threat” to the nation’s economic security.”
It said that many Dutch companies and institutions find it difficult to make a proper risk assessment of economic and scientific cooperation with China.
“The country often conceals that the Chinese government or the Chinese army may be involved in such cooperation in the background,” the report said. “The disadvantages of cooperation often only become apparent in the longer term.”
It also said that China targets Dutch high-tech companies and institutions through “corporate takeovers, academic cooperation, as well as illegitimate [digital] espionage, insiders, covert investments and illegal exports.”
Earlier this year, ASML Holding NV, a critical cog in the global semiconductor industry, accused a former China-based employee of stealing confidential information. The Dutch technology company, which makes machines needed to produce high-end chips used in everything from electric vehicles to military gear, initiated an internal investigation and tightened security controls after discovering the incident, which might have violated export controls.
The Netherlands, one of the world’s top sources of machinery and expertise needed to make advanced semiconductors, is facing increasing pressure from Washington to help forge a global blockade to stifle Beijing’s rise in chipmaking. ASML is the country’s and Europe’s most valuable tech company, and China is one of its biggest customers.
The Dutch have been navigating a middle ground between the US and China in the escalating battle over the world’s chip supply chain. Dutch measures to expand restrictions on exports of the latest chip technology appeared to fall short of measures that the administration of US President Joe Biden took last year, as Washington spearheads efforts to limit exports of machinery and know-how to China.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS