The Digital Transformation Nest of the College of Europe in Natolin was pleased to organise a discussion on "China's Digital Strategy and the EU" with Dr Paulina UZNAŃSKA.
As digital technologies increasingly shape global power dynamics, the European Union faces growing questions about its economic exposure and technological dependence on China. This session explored the vulnerabilities that can arise from such interdependence, using connected vehicles as a focused case study at the intersection of cybersecurity, industrial policy, and strategic competition.
Students gained practical tools to better understand and analyse EU–China relations by examining:
- How risks linked to China are framed and debated in Brussels
- How security, economic, and industrial policy considerations interact in EU decision-making
- Why connected cars have emerged as a revealing example of broader concerns about exposure, data security, and digital sovereignty
- What this case tells us about the EU’s evolving approach to strategic autonomy in the digital sphere
By grounding the discussion in a concrete and timely example, the session aimed to shed light on the broader strategic questions underpinning Europe’s digital transformation and its relationship with China.
About the speaker:
Ms Paulina UZNANSKA is a Research Fellow in the China Department of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW). She focuses on the PRC’s technology policy and EU–China relations. Paulina is also a PhD candidate at the University of Cologne and the University of Warsaw, specialising in Chinese law. She graduated with distinction from Peking University (China Studies: Economics and Management), the University of Warsaw (Sinology), and the Warsaw School of Economics (Global Business, Finance, and Management).
Ms UZNANSKA is a co-founder of the Polish Research Centre for Law and Economy of China at the University of Warsaw and a fellow of the International Visegrad Fund and the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. She was a visiting scholar at National Taiwan University and National Chengchi University. Her academic articles have been published, among others, in China Law and Society Review (Brill Academic Publishing). She co-edits monographs in Chinese ("New Technologies and Law 新科技与法律", Scholar 2022) and translates from Mandarin ("China-Central and Eastern Europe. A History of Literary Interactions," Dialog 2020).
Photo credit: Centre for Eastern Studies website: www.osw.waw.pl