Are More Trade Partners Necessarily More Important? — An Assessment of International Trade Networks Based on Multidimensional Network Centrality

Abstract

In the evolving global economic landscape, international trade is indispensable to China, just as China is indispensable to the international trading system. As global trade relations become increasingly networked, traditional approaches that measure a country’s status solely by trade volume or the number of trade partners face significant limitations. To capture countries’ structural roles in the global trade network more comprehensively, this paper constructs a bilateral trade network of 100 countries from 2006 to 2021 using a modified gravity model and systematically evaluates its structural characteristics and community dynamics through social network analysis (SNA).

Building on this framework, we introduce five centrality measures—degree, eigenvector, closeness, betweenness, and PageRank—to conduct a multidimensional radar-chart assessment of national network positions, thereby identifying structurally pivotal countries that may have relatively few direct connections. The results reveal that: (1) countries with a large number of trade partners are not necessarily key players in the network; (2) countries with high structural centrality often serve as bridging hubs that shape network stability and transmission pathways; (3) some traditional economic powers exhibit marginalization in structural indicators; and (4) certain small or emerging economies embed themselves into the global core through transit advantages or institutional attractiveness.

This study challenges the conventional belief that “more connections imply greater influence” and underscores the importance of multidimensional centrality in identifying key participants in the international trade network. The findings provide a structural perspective and policy implications for optimizing national trade strategies and regional cooperation frameworks.