SHANGHAI, China: China has urged the Netherlands to take "concrete action" to help resolve the Nexperia dispute, which has disrupted chip supplies and threatened car production across Europe.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said it had accepted a Dutch request to send representatives to Beijing for talks over the chipmaker, which is headquartered in the Netherlands but owned by Chinese electronics firm Wingtech.

"We are conducting constructive talks (with China) and will take the appropriate constructive steps ourselves when that's needed," a spokesperson for the Netherlands' Economic Affairs Ministry said. "At this time, we cannot discuss the content of the ongoing talks."

The tensions center on Nexperia, a major supplier of basic semiconductors used in automobile electrical systems. The Dutch government intervened on September 30, saying it acted to prevent the company from shifting production from Europe to China.

China retaliated on October 4 by blocking exports of Nexperia's finished products, a move that triggered widespread chip shortages and disrupted supply chains for European carmakers.

In recent days, Beijing has started granting exemptions to some automakers, allowing limited exports of Nexperia products under case-by-case approvals, according to people familiar with the matter. The exemptions follow an agreement with the United States aimed at easing export restrictions and preventing further escalation in the global chip industry.

China has described the Dutch intervention as politically motivated and warned that it risks undermining economic cooperation between the two countries. The Netherlands, meanwhile, has maintained that the move was taken on national security grounds, in line with broader European efforts to secure semiconductor production capacity and reduce dependence on China.

The outcome of the talks could have significant implications for Europe's auto sector, which relies on Nexperia for components used in a wide range of vehicles.