Economy - Holland claims top trade position

It took me a minute before I discovered how to get the figures right myself. According to an article in the China Daily a visiting Dutch minister claimed that my country Holland was within the European Union the second largest trading partner of China after the UK. Hold on, you will think: what about these tiny countries called Germany and France, why are they doing to bad?
"The two-way trade volume is now US$15 billion. The Netherlands is the second largest trade partner of China in the European Union. This is also true with regard to foreign investment in China," said Sybilla Dekker, the acting minister of economic affairs.
I know how we do it with foreign investments. When Shell invests 100 euro in a 50/50 joint venture in Zhuhai, Holland claims an investment of 200 euro. Fair would be to count only 50 euro, since Shell is a Dutch-British joint venture, but then you do not get those nice figures. Guess that the same is happening with the trade figures. Rotterdam is the largest German port, so I guess in the statistics we also claim the German goodies that pass Rotterdam. Dealing with figures is an art, the Dutch call themselves the Chinese of Europe, for a good reason.
Unlike the USA "we don't think it (the Netherlands' huge trade deficit with China) is a problem," the minister stressed, "We think it is a challenge. We can handle it by introducing more companies to China and bring their products to Chinese markets."