Not long ago, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte visited China, focusing on the issue of export control of lithography machines, saying that he would try his best to bring about the negative impact of export controls on lithography machines, and also mentioned the issue of Russia and Ukraine. Many people think that the main purpose of Rutte's visit to China is in these aspects, or that he wants to negotiate with us on commercial and trade issues, but in fact, if we look at the current situation in the Netherlands, then things are far from being so simple.
First of all, the Dutch economy is mainly supported by a number of large enterprises, which is somewhat similar to South Korea, and well-known companies in the Netherlands include ASML, Unilever, Philips, Heineken, etc., which are the backbone of the Dutch economy.
Now, Shell and Unilever have withdrawn from the Netherlands, and ASML has also reported that it is preparing to evacuate the Netherlands, which is obviously not beneficial for the Netherlands, and even more so for Rutte. It is for this reason that the Netherlands has been looking for ways to retain ASML.
After all, if ASML chooses to withdraw, it will likely cause a series of chain reactions, and even cause more Dutch companies to choose to withdraw. In this case, the Netherlands naturally has to think of various ways to retain ASML. However, it is obvious that the reasons for ASML's departure are mainly related to immigration issues and export control issues for lithography machines.
Rutte's visit to China is actually to minimize the impact of export controls on lithography machines, hoping to retain ASML.
Secondly, Rutte's visit to China also wants to negotiate with us on business matters, the Dutch economy mainly relies on a few well-known enterprises to support, and the local market demand in the Netherlands is difficult to meet these enterprises, so it mainly exports various commodities. For the Netherlands, foreign trade is very important.
Globally, we became the world's largest trading nation in 2012. Judging from the public data, our total foreign trade has reached about 7 trillion US dollars, and it has become the world's largest trading country for ten consecutive years, accounting for about 14%.
The Netherlands has always maintained a high level of trade with us, and in today's global economic situation, the best option for the Netherlands to find new economic growth points is actually to cooperate with us. It is precisely for this reason that Rutte also discussed with us a lot of related issues during his visit to China.
This is actually related to the withdrawal of many well-known enterprises from the Netherlands, the economic model of the Netherlands determines its dependence on the foreign trade market is relatively high, not only to promote economic development, to maintain the current situation also needs to have the foreign trade market as a support, the demand of the Chinese market is also obvious to all, the Netherlands and us to maintain good foreign trade relations, in fact, it is also the Netherlands to retain these enterprises "bargaining chips".
Finally, there has been news recently that Rutte wants to run for NATO secretary general. You must know that Rutte has lost the 2023 general election in the Netherlands, but due to some things in the Netherlands, Rutte has not yet retired from the position of Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
However, it is only a matter of time, so it is not impossible for Rutte to run for NATO secretary general. According to the analysis of some insiders, one of the purposes of Rutte's current visit to China is also to increase his "bargaining chips" for his own election as NATO secretary general.
Due to the Russia-Ukraine issue, the European Union or NATO can now be said to be very sensitive to the international situation, and for NATO, in the current situation, it is necessary to maintain a good relationship with us or to ease relations with us. It is precisely for this reason that Rutte's visit to China is, in a sense, also to show that he maintains a fairly good relationship with us.
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