"In 1987, The New York Times published an open letter addressed to the American people. Its author, a New York real estate developer named Donald Trump, accused Japan of taking advantage of the United States and warned that America was being laughed at by its trading partners. Nearly 40 years later, now in his second presidential term, Trump has turned the same grievance towards China, accusing it of exploiting US generosity and undermining US power."
"The company at the heart of this decision has its own complex history. Nexperia began as the standard products business unit of NXP Semiconductors. It was sold to a consortium of Chinese investors in 2017 and later became one of several European tech firms to join China's expanding industrial portfolio. By the late 2010s, that portfolio already included Supercell, Sumo, Stunlock and Miniclip in gaming, Kuka in robotics, WorldFirst in currency exchange and the mobile advertising start-up MobPartner."
"Europe, which long welcomed Chinese investment as a sign of openness, now treats those same partnerships as strategic threats. The scale of those acquisitions grew alongside rising pressure within Europe to safeguard sectors deemed vital to national security. Governments began invoking emergency powers to block or reverse Chinese ownership of what they now call strategic assets."
The US strategic confrontation with China underpins global policy and prompts European governments to reevaluate foreign investment in critical technology sectors. The Dutch government's September 2025 seizure of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia signalled increased alignment with Washington after The Hague declared Chinese ownership a threat to the Netherlands' strategic interests. Nexperia originated as NXP's standard-products unit, was sold to Chinese investors in 2017, and joined a broader Chinese acquisition portfolio spanning gaming, robotics, finance and mobile advertising. Rising political pressure across Europe has led governments to invoke emergency powers to block or reverse Chinese ownership of strategic assets.
#us-china-strategic-rivalry #european-tech-sovereignty #nexperia-seizure #chinese-foreign-investment
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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