Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jochem9 254 days ago
The Dutch government just explicitly denied any foreign involvement, while at the same time acknowledging that a few years ago the export restrictions for ASML were implemented because of US involvement.

Tbh, I don't know what the truth is. I'm a Dutch citizen and what is happening now is unheard of. I don't know what the motivation is and it seems to have happened out of the blue. Maybe the motivation literally is protecting the European semiconductor industry.

I seriously doubt it is aimed against China. Europe is not looking for a trade war, especially now that the US is an unpredictable ally (if they still are) and basically the whole geopolitical situation is shifting. China is also not a topic for Dutch politicians, so it's not winning anyone votes.
4 comments
chvid 254 days ago
Dutch seized Chinese chipmaker following US pressure

https://www.politico.eu/article/us-pressured-the-netherlands...

…

Newly published court proceedings reveal that the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry and a U.S. government bureau that protects U.S. critical technology met in June to talk about Nexperia, the Dutch-based chipmaker owned by Chinese technology group Wingtech.

In the meeting, U.S. officials said the removal of the CEO, Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezheng, would be necessary to exempt the company from U.S. export controls.

…

link
yorwba 254 days ago
You can read the judgment here: https://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/details?id=ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2... It looks like the CEO engaged in self-dealing, tried to revoke the CFO's bank authorization to transfer it to other people and after the CLO argued that this was legally inadvisable, tried to fire the CFO, CLO and COO. It's not explained how the Ministry of Economic Affairs got involved, but presumably one of those people alerted them to what was going on.
link
squillion 254 days ago
I think your assumption that Dutch politicians defend the interests of Dutch citizens, if only for winning votes, is wrong. European politician respond first (or only?) to the US. As a EU citizen, I take no pleasure in saying this.
link
deadfoxygrandpa 253 days ago
you dont think the dutch government would do something aimed against china because of us government pressure? are you serious?
link