Study On The Efficiency Of Intermediate Goods Trade Between China And Countries Along The CHINA RAILWAY Express

Since the initiation of the "Belt and Road" initiative in 2013,China has engaged in large-scale cross-border infrastructure construction with the countries along the route,resulting in remarkable achievements.One of the most notable successes is the construction and operation of the CHINA RAILWAY Express(CR Express),which serves as an essential practical cooperation carrier among Asian and European countries.Over the past decade,the CR Express has undergone rapid development,including the expansion of international transport routes,optimization of spatial layout,and continuous improvement of operational efficiency.This has led to the creation of new production networks and consumer markets,which promote the reconstruction of the global value chain.As a major contributor to the global value chain division of labor,intermediate goods trade plays a significant role in driving regional trade cooperation and technological innovation in countries along the route.This research paper adopts the opening and operation of the CR Express under the Belt and Road Cooperation framework as a research perspective.Initially,the study conducts a statistical analysis of the current situation and product structure of intermediate goods trade between 26 countries along the CR Expresss and China to gain insight into the development trend of bilateral intermediate goods trade.Furthermore,the study employs the intermediate goods trade volume between the sample countries and China from 2003 to 2020 as the explanatory variable and uses data indicators such as national economic development status,population,and geographical distance as explanatory variables to construct a stochastic frontier gravity model.The trade inefficiency term introduces some artificial factors that affect bilateral intermediate goods trade to investigate the impact of these factors on intermediate goods trade indepth and measure the efficiency values of intermediate goods trade for each country.The empirical results show that factors such as the GDP of the trade target countries,the population size of the trade target countries,the geographical distance,and the quality of the system significantly influence the trade of intermediate goods between China and the countries along the CR Express.Additionally,the opening of the CR Express serves as a quasi-natural experiment,allowing for the empirical testing of the specific impact of the train’s opening on the efficiency of intermediate goods trade with the countries along the route using a double-difference model.Finally,based on the results of the above analysis,this paper presents targeted recommendations for promoting the development of China’s intermediate goods trade with the countries along the CR Express,improving bilateral trade efficiency,and stimulating trade potential with the countries along the route from several perspectives.