How does the Belt and Road Initiative reshape the regional trade network? - Evidence from Equipment Manufacturing Industry

One of the objectives of the Belt and Road Initiative, launched by China in 2013, is to expand the market and establish mutually beneficial cooperation between countries. Taking a look back, does the initiative benefit the participating countries? How does it reshape the regional trade network? To answer these questions, this paper constructs a regional trade network based on the equipment manufacturing data of 63 participating countries from 2011 to 2021. The structure and characteristics of this network are then scrupulously analyzed through several indicators, such as network density, reciprocity index, centrality and agglomeration coefficient. The research results show that the trade scale of the Belt and Road Initiative equipment manufacturing industry is expanding, that this growth is relatively uniform between countries and that the different trade control forces balance each other. The dominance of the BRI has increased, and neighboring countries tend to be incorporated into “small groups”. JEL classification numbers: F13.