In the media

U.S. demands that chipmaking giant ASML stop servicing some equipment it has sold to Chinese customers are a diplomatic and business headache for the Dutch government, but signs are it will continue to align with Washington on export restrictions. Although Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government is reluctant to make a blanket decision, its public...

Following media reports that the Netherlands-based lithography equipment leader ASML is harboring thoughts to move its operations abroad, the country's political climate, especially the recent electoral victory of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), has come under the industrial spotlight.

China is spreading its wings. For a decade it deploys a new Silk Road, one of the largest infrastructural projects in modern history. Should we worry about this economic expansion or are we benefiting from it? Nowadays technology has become the new battleground on which China competes with other economic powers. Will the dragon win the AI- and...

The big question is: Is the ACI applicable or not to the case of ASML – and the Netherlands? The motion filed by Volt in October was defeated. The Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Liesje Schreinemacher also believes the instrument is invalid in the case of ASML. In her view, it does not involve economic coercion against...

The tit-for-tat cyberespionage between the US and China illustrates the danger of proliferating covert cyber operations. In a 2015 article for Clingendael Institute, Sico van der Meer and Frans Paul van der Putten argued that the US retaliation approach against major cyberattacks would be detrimental to international stability.

"It's impossible to know why he has not been seen, because secrecy is part of the political system in China and there is very little information when it comes to public figures," said Frans-Paul van der Putten, a senior researcher at the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank. "What we do know is that this should be a very important...

The fact that Hong Kong is now chasing dissidents abroad fits with the development we have seen in the Chinese region for some time, says China expert Frans-Paul van der Putten. "Hong Kong used to be a relatively safe space for people with political ideas different from those of the Chinese government. But that has gradually diminished in recent...

Weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the scenario of a full-scale war and its consequences, including sanctions and the disruption and reconfiguration of global supply chains, was deemed unrealistic by many. However, the reality proved even the most dedicated sceptics wrong. It seems that the West has learned some lessons from this and is...

Frans-Paul van der Putten, a researcher and founder of ChinaGeopolitics, a Dutch advisory business, said that given Europe's limited ability to deal with China independently from the US, it was good for Macron to try to make use of his restricted capacity. "While the EU needs to protect its internal cohesion and maintain close relations with the...

According to Dr. Frans-Paul van der Putten, a senior research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael partly backed by the Dutch Ministry of Defense, it is essential that the Dutch government is clear about the long-term aims for its policy on semiconductor technology, that it communicates clearly about these...