“…Regional research perspectives focus on regional energy trade networks, such as Asia-Pacific [ 9 , 10 ], South Asia [ 11 , 12 ], and the Middle East and North Africa [ 13 ]. Event-specific research perspectives focus on the impact of events such as the Belt and Road [ [14] , [15] , [16] ], the U.S.-China trade war [ 17 ], and the COVID-19 [ 18 , 19 ]on global energy trade patterns, and this literature is more focused and temporal. All of the above studies have antecedents, i.e., they assume that trade subjects are independent of each other and can only be studied based on bilateral trade relationships, which can well explain that world energy trade is a complex and sizeable multilateral trade network in which countries play different roles.…”