Features and evolution of the ‘Belt and Road’ regional value chain: Complex network analysis

Abstract This paper constructs a regional value chain network based on complex network analysis, and analyses its structural features and dynamic evolution process. The results show that at the macro level, the scales of the domestic trade value‐added (DVA) network and foreign trade value‐added (FVA) network of the ‘Belt and Road’ (B&R) show an expanding pattern over time. Moreover, the core‐periphery analysis shows that the network exhibits a vivid core‐periphery structure. Then, community analysis reveals that the network has prominent characteristics of regional agglomeration. After 2005, the division of communities tended to be stable, and the representative countries of the DVA network and FVA network communities differed. Finally, at the individual level, as for degree centrality and strength centrality, China, Russia and Thailand are all the cores in the DVA network, while India, an emerging economy, shows increases in the breadth and depth of relations and becomes more important. In the FVA network, Singapore and Russia are more significant. As for PageRank centrality, Russia, Singapore, China and India are all the cores in the DVA network and FVA network, but for betweenness centrality, the core countries that play the ‘bridge’ role in the DVA network and FVA network are not unified.