Netherlands to Screen Foreign Doctoral Students in Tech Fields, Citing Security Risks

A Chinese student is pictured arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Jan. 11, 2023. (Lin Dan/The Epoch Times)

The Netherlands is citing possible security risks as it ponders legislation that would see screening of international students who intend to pursue doctoral studies in technical professions, a spokesperson for the Education Ministry announced on Monday.

The move is the most recent step taken by the Dutch government to hinder Chinese entities and students from accessing Dutch technology.

According to the ministry, however, the new law would apply to all students coming from outside the European Union, and not just Chinese.

Dutch universities are also increasingly reluctant to accept doctoral students with scholarships subsidized by the Chinese government, with knowledge security listed as the main reason, local media reported.

In particular, doctoral candidates from China’s National University of Defense Technology and the so-called Seven Sons—a group of seven universities with strong ties to the Chinese military—are increasingly being rejected.

Probe Into Chinese Doctoral Candidates

In April, Dutch Minister of Education Robbert Dijkgraaf announced a probe that would look into “the total number of PhD candidates on a China Scholarship Council (CSC) as well as the fields in which they are active in the Netherlands.”

The investigation should shed more light on “the type of contractual conditions” under which the doctoral candidates travel to the Netherlands to work, according to Dijkgraaf.

Additionally, the minister said he planned to inquire with the umbrella body Universities of The Netherlands (UNL) about the possibility of imposing harsher limits on organizations that offer foreign scholarships. According to Dijkgraaf, all universities are currently conducting risk analyses with respect to knowledge security, which also cover scholarship programs and doctoral candidates receiving financial aid.

Approximately 2,000 doctoral candidates are now enrolled in the Netherlands on scholarships provided by the CSC. China has fallen from second to fifth on the list of the most common foreign countries of origin according to the nonprofit Nuffic, which promotes international educational cooperation at Dutch universities.

China–the Biggest Threat

The annual report published in April by the Dutch intelligence agency warned that countries wishing to steal expertise are drawn to the Netherlands, with China recognized as being “the biggest threat.”

“China uses both legitimate investments, corporate takeovers and academic cooperation, as well as illegal (digital) espionage, insiders, covert investments, and illegal export. Dutch companies, knowledge institutions, and scientists are regularly victims of this,” the report reads.

Although China is a significant commercial partner for the Netherlands, efforts to acquire Dutch and Western technologies are being driven by China’s military goals, the document notes.

Blocking China From Key Semiconductor Technology

In March, the Dutch government agreed to block China from having access to chip manufacturing technology, heating up a longstanding conflict with Beijing over semiconductors.

The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Liesje Schreinemacher, told the Dutch parliament on March 8 that the proposed limitations on CCP access to sensitively designed advanced equipment—which uses ultraviolet light to etch circuits on processor chips—was essential on security and human rights grounds.

ASML Holdings, which is based in Veldhoven in the Netherlands, is the world’s only producer of equipment that uses extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) to etch microscopically precise circuits onto silicon, allowing them to be packed more closely together—thus boosting their speed and reducing their power demand.

The trade minister did not directly mention China or ASML—arguably Europe’s most critical tech firm and one of the largest global suppliers of semiconductor equipment—in her letter to parliament.

“In view of technological developments and geopolitical context, the government has come to the conclusion that it is necessary for (inter)national security to extend the existing export control of specific semiconductor production equipment,” wrote Schreinemacher.

She said the new measures target only “very specific technologies in the semiconductor production cycle on which the Netherlands has a unique and leading position, such as the most advanced Deep Ultra Violet (DUV) immersion lithography and deposition.”

Semiconductor Security Pact

The restrictions came after January talks between Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President Joe Biden on advanced chip technology made by ASML Holdings, as well as other security issues.

Tech industry experts say that the lack of access to ASML’s latest advanced manufacturing technology has become a serious handicap in the Chinese communist regime’s long-term plans to develop its own state-of-the-art chip industry.

Chinese manufacturers are currently only able to produce low-end chips used in vehicles and in common consumer electronics, but not those used in smartphones, servers, and other high-end products.

Bryan Jung contributed to this report.