The United States is the only superpower, and at the end of 2023, the USS CVN70 Carl Vinson aircraft carrier once again broke into the South China Sea and began a military deployment operation on China's doorstep. The actions of the US Navy's aircraft carriers have been very clear, which is to put pressure on China. At the time of China's rise, the United States suppressed China in many fields, and the United States tried to maintain its own hegemony, so it wanted to prevent China's rise through various means, so it used aircraft carriers to adopt an aggressive posture. At a time when the United States is actively encircling and containing China, the United States is not only pressing China step by step in the military field, but also in the high-tech field.
The United States is not only doing it on its own, but is also actively enlisting its allies to jointly deal with China. At the beginning of the new year in 2024, the Netherlands has already given China eye medicine, according to the announcement issued by the Dutch government, the Netherlands has cancelled the export license of ASML's NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i lithography machine systems, which means that the two advanced process lithography machines have been included in the export control list. Although the Dutch government's announcement was not aimed at China, it is clear that the Netherlands is actively cooperating with the United States in its efforts to contain China.
The Netherlands has secretly signed an agreement with the United States and Japan in 2023 to block China in the chip field, the Netherlands mainly restricts the export of lithography machines for chip manufacturing to China, and Japan is responsible for sanctions on consumables for chip manufacturing. The United States started its trade war against China in 2018 and the chip war against China's high-tech industry the following year. Initially, the United States banned high-end chip products from entering the Chinese market, and then began to suppress China's chip industry, the Netherlands took the lead in banning the corresponding lithography machine from entering the Chinese market, and the Netherlands started from the field of high-end chip manufacturing, so the first to ban the export of EUV series lithography machines.
In fact, the Netherlands is not only stuck in China's neck in the field of high-end chip manufacturing, according to the secret agreement signed by the United States, the Netherlands and Japan, the Netherlands has also taken measures against China in the field of low-end chips, and the cancellation of the export of NXT:2050i and NXT:2100i lithography machines is a typical action. The Netherlands has carried out export controls on other lithography machines before, and the reason given by the Netherlands is the so-called "national security", which is actually actively cooperating with the United States' strategy of encircling and containing China, so it cannot have too many illusions about the West.
The United States insists on encircling and containing China in the field of chips, and the Netherlands is resolutely standing with the United States at the critical moment, the Netherlands controls the development and sales of most of the world's lithography machines, and the United States tries to enter China by controlling the lithography machines, so as to prevent China's breakthrough in the field of chips. After banning the export of lithography machines for high-end chip manufacturing, the Netherlands has targeted equipment for the mass production of mid-range chip products, so as to further cooperate with the United States' strategy of encircling and containing China's chip industry. In fact, China has broken through the West's containment and containment of China's chip industry, because China's domestic high-end mobile phones launched in August 2023 have already used domestic high-end chip products.