China's emergence as a volumetric state: The volumetric dimension of the 15th Five-Year Plan and beyond

Nadine Godehardt and Xin Zhang

No 22/2026, SWP Comments from Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), German Institute for International and Security Affairs

Abstract: The Chinese leadership has implemented various official directives, plans, and policies that are, step-by-step, coalescing into a comprehensive architecture of volumetric statecraft. Volumetric power integrates spaces such as the atmosphere, the deep sea, the polar regions, the (geological) subsoil, or outer space into political governance. Volumetric states develop special economic and techn(olog)ical capacities to gain control of, and even govern, these spaces. Volumetric statecraft implies the Chinese state's willingness and capacity to integrate various policy dimensions into a set of comprehensive ecosystems. China's 15th Five-Year Plan specifically manifests the volumetric dimension in Chinese governance. This directly impacts the type of challenge that China will pose to the European Union (EU) in the coming years, and it will force the EU to adapt a volumetric strategy of its own towards China.

Keywords: 15th Five-Year Plan; volumetric statecraft; volumetric turn; volumetric power; New Frontiers; New Strategic Splaces; Emerging domains; New Territories; AI Plus; AI+; strategic emerging industries; new qualitiy productive forces; Global Governance Initiative; GGI; Zheng Shanjie (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:swpcom:341971

DOI: 10.18449/2026C22

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