Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten is set to visit China next spring, two sources familiar with the planning have told the South China Morning Post.
A cooperation deal between a NATO port in Denmark and Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Group has raised concerns
about Chinese influence over the European Union's strategic hubs, underscoring the clash between the bloc's push for rapid green energy expansion and its ability to protect critical infrastructure.
The Netherlands' trade chief and his delegation will come at a pivotal diplomatic moment, as The Hague faces pressure from US tech-export laws
Frans-Paul van der Putten, an independent China expert based in the Netherlands, noted the subtle policy shift on China under Trump. "It has probably become easier for China to understand the overall direction of US foreign policy," he said. "Despite Trump's changeable behaviour, the basics of US foreign policy during his second presidency are more...
Frans-Paul van der Putten, founder of Dutch consultancy ChinaGeopolitics, said it appeared Beijing and The Hague were adopting a pragmatic approach to prioritise trade ties, despite the Nexperia saga. "For both the Chinese and the Dutch governments, it was not favourable to politicise the [Nexperia] issue," van der Putten said. The Chinese side...
Few works on China have managed to balance historical depth with present-day relevance as effectively as Frans-Paul van der Putten in China Resurrected: A Modern Geopolitical History. Much of the existing literature on China's rise rests on two dominant interpretive frameworks: first, expectations that China's economic and social developments will...
"To anticipate developments twenty or thirty years ahead, policymakers need appropriate instruments. These should be developed at the European level," says Frans-Paul van der Putten, an analyst at the Clingendael Institute, who welcomes the port strategy. In his view, the risks associated with such investments can only be assessed over longer time...
According to Frans-Paul van der Putten, Senior Research Associate at the Clingendael Institute, Cosco is sending a clear signal. Its interest in Zippel indicates that Chinese companies want to expand their involvement in European logistics – despite ongoing trade and geopolitical tensions between the EU and China and stricter EU scrutiny of Chinese...
However, Frans-Paul van der Putten, founder of Dutch consulting firm ChinaGeopolitics, said the continuation of the Nexperia saga would damage the company, the Netherlands and relations between The Hague and Beijing.
"China, whose influence is mainly economic, cannot remove US influence from most regions, should it want to do so," said Frans-Paul van der Putten, an independent China expert based in the Netherlands.
