In recent years, the US-led drama of "decoupling from China" has been slapped more and more in the face, and many countries that followed the US "decoupling" route at the beginning have now tasted the bitter fruits. Recently, two countries have voiced their regret that they should not stand up to China, one is the Netherlands and the other is India. Interestingly, these two countries also represent two different mentalities that follow the U.S. strategy of "decoupling from China."
Let's talk about the Netherlands first, according to Reuters, as soon as the Dutch lithography machine giant ASML's first-quarter financial report was released, the stock price immediately dived, falling 7%, why? Not to mention the decline in revenue and net profit, the most important thing is that the order volume has shrunk sharply, far lower than market expectations. You must know that ASML is the "heart" of the chip manufacturing industry, and the sharp drop in orders is tantamount to a bolt from the blue.
As soon as the data came out, ASML CEO Wennink immediately said: "At present, there is nothing to stop us from serving our existing Chinese customers.
Why do you say this, because China's orders have always been the main source of income for ASML, and the importance of the Chinese market to ASML is self-evident, but due to the chip ban in the United States, ASML was ordered by the US government not to export high-end lithography machines to China, and the loss of the Chinese market, ASML's life will be difficult.
The Dutch side can sympathize, after all, although Asml is in the Netherlands, it is controlled by American capital, and even if the Dutch want to do business with China without restrictions, if the United States does not agree, they will not be able to call the shots. India, however, is a different story.
Recently, India's Ministry of External Affairs recently issued a guideline that intends to ease visa restrictions for Chinese technicians to visit India. The Indian government is doing this mainly because it has signed agreements with 27 steel companies to invest Rs 21,000 crore in FY 2023-24. Today, however, only about 70% of the actual investment has been completed. The answer to this is: the difficulty of importing equipment from China, and the inability of Chinese technicians to go to India to provide technical support due to visa issues.
India's current operation is simply shooting itself in the foot. Previously, the Indian government hyped up the border issue and took the initiative to launch a "trade war" with China, originally hoping to achieve the so-called "self-reliance" by restricting Chinese equipment and technical personnel, but because of the lack of Chinese equipment and technical support, production capacity was limited and investment was greatly reduced. Now, India's Ministry of External Affairs has had to urgently adjust its policy in preparation for easing visa restrictions for Chinese technicians. If you knew this was the case, why bother in the first place?
In fact, the experience between the Netherlands and India also shows that the attempt to "decouple" from China is tantamount to going against the trend of globalization and is destined to pay a price.
As far as China is concerned, this repeated "decoupling" behavior also deserves our attention, and China cannot always be regarded as an "honest person". As for the transformation of the Netherlands and India, I think we need to treat it differently, after all, one is more passive, and the other is completely active.