Evolution and Outlook of Fossil Energy Trade Structure Between China and ASEAN Within the Framework of Twenty-First-Century Maritime Silk Road

Fossil energy is the key field and core content of the Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road construction, ASEAN is the priority direction of China’s peripheral diplomacy and the focus high-quality construction of the “One Belt, One Road”, clarifying the changes in the trade structure of ASEAN countries’ fossil energy trade and clarifying China’s construction of the Maritime Silk Road energy construction is of certain significance. Intercepting the fossil energy trade panel data of ASEAN countries during 2000–2020 to analyze the evolution of the overall trade structure of fossil energy in ASEAN countries, we find that: the overall scale of fossil energy trade in ASEAN countries has been expanding, and energy exports are relatively stable, with a widening trade deficit in the same period; ASEAN countries’ demand for energy is strong, but the oil demand is significantly higher than that for natural gas and coal; although they are in the same geographic region, the oil demand is higher than that for natural gas. The energy demand of ASEAN countries is strong, but the oil demand is significantly higher than that for natural gas and coal. Because of the great differences in resource endowments and national development among countries, countries in ASEAN have great differences in energy demand dramatically.