Chinese state media carries suggestions of end to medical supplies and boycott of Dutch goods in April 2020.
Context
In April 2020, the Netherlands changed the name of its office in Taiwan, calling it the “Netherlands Office Taipei” instead of “Netherlands Trade and Investment Office”. In an April 28 statement, the Government of the Netherlands issued a public statement in which it justified this decision, saying that “[t]he name Netherlands Office Taipei better reflects the actual situation and is more in line with the names used by other European offices engaged in similar activities in Taipei”, adding “The name change does not imply any change in the relations. The Government of the Netherlands strictly adheres to its One China Policy, and does not maintain diplomatic or political relations with Taiwan.”
In response to this change in name, the Chinese government’s embassy in the Netherlands reportedly asked for “clarification” and made “solemn representations” with their Dutch counterparts – reportedly stating that this change “concerns China’s core interests”. Chinese media subsequently carried an article citing a Chinese academic as suggesting that Beijing “consider suspending medical supplies to the Netherlands” – in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic that was heavily impacting the Netherlands in mid-2020. The same article reportedly cited analysts as stating that the Netherland’s name change would “likely face a backlash” and suggested that Chinese netizens were demanding a boycott of Dutch products, and had called for “Chinese companies to immediately stop exporting medical supplies to the country”.
The Netherland’s decision to rename the office was reportedly motivated by gratitude for Taipei’s support for the Netherlands during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, in March 2020 Dutch officials reportedly rejected “tens of thousands” of protective masks purchased from China due to safety standards issues.
Impact
English language media does not show any reporting of implementation of these suggested economic measures by the Chinese government.
Responses
i) Chinese government and industry responses.
Chinese state media reporting from May 1, 2020, cited an expert as saying that the Netherlands was “playing with fire and puts relations with the Chinese mainland at risk” through this decision.
However, the Chinese government did not make any direct statement regarding the matter. No official document or reliable Chinese media reported this incident. A potentially relevant matter at the time was an allegation by Dutch media that several shipments of masks from China had quality issues, leading to their rejection by Dutch officials. On 03 April 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC responded to this allegation, stating that “China’s government had investigated into this incident and found that the Dutch purchaser had been properly informed that the masks they purchased were non-surgical masks. Chinese suppliers have delivered correct products. This allegation was fabricated by some European media.”
(ii) Netherlands government and industry responses
As part of its announcement of the move, the Dutch government reportedly issued a video clip featuring its representative in Taipei, Guy Wittich, explaining the context of growing ties between the Netherlands and Taiwan. However, this video was subsequently removed from the internet by the Dutch government – reportedly only one day after it was uploaded. The Netherlands’ government reportedly claimed that this video was only ever intended to be hosted online for 24 hours.
A March 2021 report from the Netherlands Institute of International Relations based on polling found that “[r]espondents have a sceptical, if not outright negative, view of China”, and cited Beijing’s reponse to its Taiwan office name change during this incident as one of a number of possible drivers of negative perceptions”
Status
This incident does not appear to have led directly to any implementation of measures. Relations between China and the Netherlands have recently been further strained, however, by supply chain controls on leading-edge semiconductor technology exports from the Netherlands to China.
Reference list
Al Jazeera. 2020. “Netherlands recalls defective masks imported from China.” Al Jazeera. March 29. Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/ 3/29/netherlands-recalls-defective-masks-imported-from-china
Baptista, E. 2024. “China says “dissatisfied” with new Dutch export controls on ASML chipmaking tools.” Reuters. September 8. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/ technology/china-says-dissatisfied-with-new-dutch-export-controls-asml-chipmaking-tools-2024-09-08/
CNA. 2020. “Netherlands rep office changes name to ‘Netherlands Office Taipei’” Focus Taiwan. April 27. Available at: https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202004270015
Everington, K. 2020. “China threatens to halt medical supplies after Netherlands changes Taiwan rep office name.” Taiwan News. April 30. Available at:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/news/3925556
Global Times. 2020. “Netizens call for Dutch products boycott, halt to medical exports over Taiwan.” Global Times. April 28. Available at: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1186988.shtml
Government of the Netherlands. 2020. “Statement on the Netherlands Trade and Investment Office’s name change.” Government of the Netherlands. April 28. Available at: https://www.government.nl/documents/diplomatic-statements/2020/04/28/statement-on-the-netherlands-trade-and-investment-office%E2%80%99s-name-change
Liu, C. 2020. “Change in Netherlands’ office name in Taiwan is “playing with fire,” poses risk to ties with Chinese mainland: experts.” Global Times. May 1. Available at: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1187254.shtml
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. 2020. ‘Fabricating the so-called quality issues of Chinese products is not helpful to international cooperation in combating the pandemic’ [外交部: 炒作所谓中国产品质量问题不利于国际抗疫合作]. April 3. Available at: https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-04/03/content_5498545.htm.
Organiser. 2020. “China bares its evil fangs: Threatens to halt medical supplies to Netherlands as it changed name of its Trade office in Taiwan.” Organiser. May 1. Available at: https://organiser.org/2020/05/01/127896/bharat/china-threatens-to-halt-medical-supplies-to-netherlands/
van der Putten, F.P., Houtkamp, C., van der Laan, T. and Ho, M.S.D. 2021. “Dutch Views of China.” Netherlands Institute of International Relations. March. Available at: