China criticises Dutch minister over Nexperia comments ahead of visit to Beijing

By Eduardo Baptista

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's commerce ministry on Friday criticised comments made by Dutch Economy Minister Vincent Karremans defending the seizure of Chinese-owned, Netherlands-based chipmaker Nexperia, days before senior Dutch officials visit Beijing to discuss how to resolve the dispute.

Karremans said in an interview with The Guardian published on Thursday that he had no regrets over the Netherlands' September 30 decision to take over Nexperia, which makes billions of chips for cars and other electronics.

After the seizure, motivated by concerns about technology transfers to its Chinese parent Wingtech, China imposed export controls on the company's China-made products, threatening automotive industry supply lines from Germany to Japan.

China's commerce ministry said in a long statement that it was "extremely disappointed and strongly dissatisfied" at Karremans' comments, and it listed numerous complaints about the Dutch government's actions.

"It was the Dutch side’s improper intervention — seizing 99% of the shares of a wholly owned private enterprise — that, like a stone thrown into calm waters, created a huge ripple effect and became the real source of turbulence and disruption to the global semiconductor supply chain," the ministry said.

The Dutch Economy ministry declined to comment on Friday.

The Chinese commerce ministry's statement is the clearest sign so far of Beijing's position on a geopolitical and corporate fight that has shaken up Sino-Dutch relations.

Nexperia produces large volumes of chips in the Netherlands but 70% of the European-produced chips are packaged in China.

It comes days before a delegation of senior officials from the Dutch economy ministry are due to visit Beijing in an attempt to find a compromise.

They will likely meet with officials from China's commerce ministry, which has in recent days demanded the Dutch government revoke its seizure of Nexperia and asked other EU countries to put pressure on The Hague to make concessions.

Key issues on the table will include Nexperia Netherlands' refusal to ship wafers to its Chinese assembly plant, and a Dutch court's suspension of the company's former CEO and Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezheng, over alleged mismanagement.

China's commerce ministry said on Friday it had helped ease the supply chain crisis by issuing export exemptions for civilian-use chips but warned that the supply chain remained fragile because the Dutch side had taken "no real action to solve the problem."

It accused Nexperia Netherlands of refusing to ship wafers to Chinese buyers and even blocking Chinese foundries from supplying customers, moves it said had heightened risks for automakers and escalated a corporate dispute into a "systemic risk."

The commerce ministry concluded by urging The Hague to arrive in Beijing with "constructive proposals" rather than repeating past arguments.

"Come with the aim of solving problems, not creating new ones," it said.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by Hugh Lawson)