Authorities raid Chinese security company in Rotterdam
The Dutch authorities raided the Rotterdam-based Chinese security company Nuctech on Wednesday morning as part of a European action against foreign subsidies and unfair trade practices, according to the Financial Times. A similar raid occurred at Nutech offices in Poland.
Nutech supplies technology for border controls at customs. The Chinese state-owned company has supplied container scanners to the port of Rotterdam and baggage scanners to Schiphol Airport for some time, according to AD.
The raids followed “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market,” the European Commission said, according to FT. It called the raids a “preliminary investigative step into suspected distortive foreign subsidies.”
The United States and Canada have banned some security equipment from the company over espionage concerns.
On Tuesday, the Dutch intelligence service AIVD again warned China posed an increasing risk to the Netherlands in its bid to become one of the main world powers. It said that China was trying to undermine Dutch businesses’ earning capacity with cyber attacks, espionage, secretive investments, and illegal exports.
