Rutte is visiting China with the country’s Foreign Trade minister, Geoffrey van Leeuwen. The trip comes after a year in which the Netherlands decided, under pressure from the United States, to restrict some of the export of advanced chip printing machines by Dutch chips champion ASML to China.
ASML estimates that the impact of the export controls (both from the Dutch and U.S. sides) will affect about 10 to 15 percent of its China sales.
Relations between the Netherlands and China have been seriously marred by the Dutch export controls, over which China has repeatedly expressed its discontent.
Van Leeuwen posted earlier on X that it was good both countries could discuss topics that they don’t directly agree on, like sensitive technology.