Dutch trade minister Liesje Schreinemacher has told the Financial Times in an interview that Europe’s green transition will be impossible without China.

“They [China] are doing a lot on [research and development] and it would really be a shame if we decoupled fully from China,” Schreinemacher told the paper.

The Netherlands, she said, had a “strong trade relationship with China” and that “we need each other when it comes to making our economies more sustainable and the green transition”.

G7 leaders agreed last week to “de-risk” their relationship with China by trying to import more raw materials from other sources and focusing on domestic innovation.

Schreinemacher also said she wants Brussels to back Dutch restrictions on selling advanced chip making equipment to China so that other member states can both follow suit and agree not to re-export Dutch made equipment.

The Netherlands, US and Japan reached an agreement on export restrictions on chip technology at the end of January.

Schreinemacher will visit China with a trade delegation in the autumn.

Foreign minister Wopke Hoekstra was in Beijing earlier this month to discuss a variety of issues including EU China relations and the Russian invasion of Hong Kong.