How China made the Netherlands question its free-market beliefs

Growing scepticism of China is a path already taken by countries from Australia to the United Kingdom. But it’s a new direction for the Netherlands, a mercantile nation founded on free trade. — AFP

When the Dutch government invested in home-grown chipmaker Smart Photonics this summer, it was a departure for a country with a hands-off approach to business.

A small company with big plans, Smart Photonics was struggling to attract financing to scale up production of its next-generation chips, whose applications include self-driving cars and datacentres.