# Construction of the Belt and Road Trade Cooperation Network from the Multi-Distances Perspective
###### Abstract
For instance, nodes with similar socio-cultural backgrounds are more likely to achieve cooperation [13], the quality of the relationship between the cooperation participants determines the mobility of the network resources [18], communication and coordination mechanisms stabilize symbiosis over time, and the centrality of the network benefits the formation of a corporate cooperation network [19; 20]. Scholars have conducted extensive and in-depth studies on the impact of cooperation benefit factors and cooperation opportunity factors on international trade flows. In terms of cooperation benefit factors, based on the absolute advantage theory introduced by [PERSON] [21], [PERSON] [22] and [PERSON] [23] proposed the factor endowment theory and emphasized that the factor endowment of various countries plays a decisive role in trade. Inspired by the law of universal gravitation in physics, [PERSON] [24] and [PERSON] [25] established a gravity model to study the factors influencing international trade flows, and concluded that economic strength and geographic distance are the main factors affecting trade flows. In terms of cooperation opportunity factors, scholars have explored the impact of cultural and institutional factors on trade flows. Firstly, more scholars are finding that cultural differences have a significant impact on trade flows [26]. Some scholars believed that cultural distance increases the difficulty of market transactions [27]. Cultural distance affects bilateral trade in two ways: reducing trade costs and increasing affinity parameters [28]. Some scholars also found that cultural distance has a significant and long-term negative influence on bilateral trade flows between China and the Belt and Road countries [29]. Simultaneously, some other scholars discovered that institutional factors affect international trade. Furthermore, the concept of institutional distance was proposed and defined as the differences between countries in terms of control, norms, and cognitive systems [30]. As for the influence of institutional distance on trade flows, no consensus has been reached due to variable selection and sample differences. Some scholars found that countries with similar systems are more active in bilateral trade [31], although trade was restricted by the trade and investment relationship [32]. However, some scholars believed that institutional distance drives international trade [33]. The above studies laid a solid theoretical foundation and method basis for the research of a cooperation network construction between China and the Belt and Road countries. Since the Belt and Road Initiative includes 65 countries with diversified cultural and institutional backgrounds, to study the cooperation network construction among them requires considering the cooperation benefit factors and the cooperation opportunity factors. Therefore, in this study, based on the principle of facilitation, friendliness, and complementarity of cooperation network formation theory [34], the geographic, factor endowment, cultural, and institutional distances were selected as variables to expand the gravity model from a multiple distances perspective. Then, using the extended gravity model, the impact of geographic, factor endowment, cultural, and institutional distances on China's exports to the Belt and Road countries was tested by choosing the data from China's export trade flows to the Belt and Road countries from 2007 to 2016. Based on the results of the empirical research, we designed and constructed a Belt and Road Trade cooperation network from a multi-distances perspective.