In recent days, there have been continuous exchanges and communication between the political and business circles of China and Europe on digital technology cooperation. At the recently held 2nd China Europe Best Case Conference on Enterprise Environment, Social and Corporate Governance, 5th China Europe (France) Cross border E-commerce Forum, and 11th European Forum, digital technology cooperation such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, cross-border e-commerce, and digital transformation became popular "keywords" of common concern between China and Europe. What are the characteristics, opportunities, challenges, and prospects of China Europe digital cooperation? Experts analyze that China Europe digital cooperation is entering a new stage of running parallel on the innovation track. The scope of digital cooperation continues to expand. At the 11th European Forum 2025 held recently, nearly 100 political, business, and academic figures from China and France explored new business development models between China and Europe around the theme of "Uncertain Era: Openness Reshaping Growth". Former French Prime Minister and Special Representative for China Affairs of the French government, Jean Pierre Raffarin, stated at the forum that Europe needs to reconsider how to develop its relationship with China from a strategic perspective, and the development and regulation of artificial intelligence are areas where both sides can focus on cooperation. Chinese automobile companies such as BYD and Geely have invested in building factories in Europe to promote the application of autonomous driving technology; Huawei Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and other cloud computing related enterprises are building data centers and providing cloud computing solutions in Europe; Artificial intelligence related products of China ByteDance, iFLYTEK and other technology companies were promoted in the European market. In June of this year, the Sino German Intelligent Manufacturing Industry Matchmaking Conference facilitated 28 trade and investment projects involving new energy vehicles, intelligent connected vehicles, high-end equipment manufacturing, artificial intelligence and other industries, with a total amount exceeding 6.8 billion yuan. In 2022, Volkswagen Group invested approximately 2.4 billion euros to facilitate the establishment of a joint venture between its software company CARIAD and Chinese autonomous driving company Horizon, focusing on the research and development of autonomous driving solutions. The digital cooperation between China and Europe continues to advance. According to a recent report released by the China Europe Society, China has become an important country for cutting-edge technological innovation in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, humanoid robots, and other fields worldwide. In recent years, the EU has continued to increase its investment in digital transformation, especially in areas such as artificial intelligence. China and Europe have both competition and potential for cooperation in fields such as digital technology, artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things. Currently, China and Europe have formed good examples of digital cooperation in innovative technology industries such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, as well as in cross-border data flow, data protection, and technology regulatory policies. With the rapid development of global digital technology, especially emerging technologies represented by artificial intelligence, the scope of China Europe digital cooperation continues to expand, taking into account both software and hardware cooperation. The cooperation areas are constantly expanding from cross-border data flow and cross-border e-commerce to fields such as artificial intelligence, digital computing power, and new energy vehicles. ”Yao Xu, Associate Researcher at Fudan University Development Research Institute and Distinguished Researcher at Shanghai Data Research Institute, analyzed. There is strong complementarity in resource endowment. According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs of China, in the first half of 2025, China's imports and exports to the European Union will be 2.82 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%, with an average daily import and export of over 15 billion yuan, equivalent to the trade value of one year since the establishment of diplomatic relations. Faced with the complex and severe international situation and endless risks and challenges, China EU economic and trade cooperation continues to maintain a good development momentum and shows strong resilience. Digital technology and digital economy, as one of the most promising areas of cooperation between China and Europe, play an important role in China Europe cooperation. In the early stage of China's reform and opening up, China strengthened its technological cooperation with Europe through 'market for technology', and high-end manufacturing represented by the European automotive industry entered China, promoting the development of Chinese industries and technological progress. At present, with the improvement of China's AI and other digital technology innovation capabilities and the rapid development of the digital economy, China has certain advantages in the diversity of digital innovation environment and application scenarios. Many excellent digital technology enterprises and products have entered the European market. China and Europe have strong complementarity in the resource endowments of digital technology innovation and digital economy development. Many new achievements have been made in the cooperation in artificial intelligence, automatic driving and other fields. China Europe digital cooperation is entering a new stage of running parallel on the innovation track. Despite the risks of politicizing digital technology and economic issues, win-win cooperation remains the main tone of China Europe exchanges. ”Yao Xu's analysis. Professor Lu Chuanying from the School of Politics and International Relations at Tongji University believes that, taking the field of artificial intelligence as an example, the European Union has strong capabilities in basic research and underlying algorithms, and has nurtured many top scientists and innovative achievements in the field of artificial intelligence over the years. However, the EU's research advantages have not been translated into large-scale commercial applications and industrial competitiveness. In contrast, China stands out in the engineering and large-scale application of artificial intelligence. Chinese technology companies have excellent capabilities in quickly implementing and iterating models, possess massive data resources and application scenarios, and cultivate enterprises with strong industry adaptability, high scenario sensitivity, and system level technology integration capabilities. The complementarity between "theory driven innovation" and "application driven innovation" lays the foundation for building technological cooperation between the two sides and is also conducive to jointly enhancing their role in global artificial intelligence governance. In addition, the current global governance of artificial intelligence is facing many interferences brought by geopolitical games. Both China and Europe emphasize the use of multilateral mechanisms to address the transnational challenges brought by artificial intelligence, and have common demands in maintaining open and inclusive international governance. This multilateral stance provides impetus for cooperation between the two sides. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Europe. During his recent visit to the European Union headquarters, Germany, and France, Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Foreign Minister, pointed out that as the world's two major powers and two major economies, China and Europe adhere to dialogue and cooperation, and it is difficult for camp confrontation to form; If China and Europe choose to open up and achieve win-win results, the trend of economic globalization will not reverse; If China and Europe join hands to practice multilateralism, the world will not be in chaos. The more severe and complex the international situation is, the more necessary it is for China and Europe to strengthen unity and coordination, and firmly become a stabilizing force in a turbulent world. Luigi Gambaldera, President of the China Europe Digital Association, believes that there is enormous potential for further cooperation between Europe and China in the field of communication. Both sides have unique advantages that can complement each other. Combining Europe's regulatory framework, research and development ecosystem, and technological innovation with China's manufacturing capabilities, market size, and rapid deployment of digital technology can help achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. This synergy can accelerate progress in key technological fields such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, promoting global connectivity and technological cohesion. Yao Xu believes that in the current era of increasing global trade uncertainty, China and Europe are two crucial actors in maintaining global trade stability and promoting innovative development. In the field of digital cooperation, China and Europe need to strengthen political mutual trust, China needs to let Europe understand China's positive attitude in the field of digital cooperation, and Europe also needs to recognize that win-win cooperation between China and Europe in the field of digital cooperation is still the most beneficial choice for both sides at present. In addition, China and Europe can explore and promote successful cases in digital cooperation, continuously summarize and promote existing successful experiences in rule docking, standard setting, industry complementarity, overseas investment, technology research and development, and employment promotion. Given the significant common interests and structural complementarity between China and Europe in the field of artificial intelligence governance, both sides have the practical foundation and strategic necessity to build a deep collaborative relationship. By strengthening cooperation, not only can we effectively avoid the confrontational deterioration of digital geopolitics, but we can also inject stability into building an open and inclusive global artificial intelligence governance system. ”Lu Chuanying believes that China and Europe can establish a high-level dialogue mechanism for artificial intelligence governance, promote the docking and joint formulation of artificial intelligence governance standards, strengthen cooperation and position coordination in multilateral fields, build a mechanism for cooperation and risk response between Chinese and European artificial intelligence enterprises, uphold the concept of win-win cooperation, and promote the formation of a global artificial intelligence governance system that is "technology inclusive, rules coordinated, and responsibility shared". (New Society)