Evolution of energy trade structure in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and its trade relations with China

Energy security and cooperation are the key and core contents in the construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Clarifying the evolution characteristics of energy trade structure along the road is of certain value to figure out the direction and path of the construction of the energy Maritime Silk Road. Based on the fossil energy trade data of countries along the road from 2000 to 2018 and their foreign economic and trade attributes, with the help of trade complementarity model, complex netwok method and GIS space technology, this paper reveals the evolution characteristics of product structure, network structure and spatial pattern of energy trade along the routes, and discusses the change and complementary characteristics of the Maritime Silk Road in China's international energy trade. The following conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, the scale of trade along the road has increased in recent years, with obvious trade deficit. The proportion of imports in the world has increased, while that of exports has declined. Secondly, crude oil, liquefied natural gas and lignite are the main trading products. Most developed countries have import disadvantages for raw products with low technical requirements and export advantages for processed products, and the situation is opposite in developing countries. Thirdly, the major consuming countries have gradually replaced the major exporting countries as the core node of the oil trade network; countries rich in resources always dominate the natural gas trade network; major exporters andconsumers jointly dominate the coal trade network. Then, oil trade has formed an "arch" pattern in Asia and has been continuously consolidated; the natural gas trade is in the coexistence pattern of "Golden Triangle" in Asia and "quadrilateral prism" in the Mediterranean. The intercontinental connection of the coal trade is weakening, while the trade within the continent is strengthening. Finally, countires along the Maritime Silk Road is important energy suppliers and partners of China. The complementary level between China and countries along the road in the field of oil trade is high, with a decreasing trend, while that in the field of natural gas and coal trade is low but with an increasing trend.