Second, both the control ability and anti-control ability of China are ascending and ranked between 2
and 4, similar to Netherlands. The control ability indicates the extent to which a country controls the
resource flows between countries. If a country with high control ability cuts off its trade links with some
of its partners, the whole network will be significantly affected. The increase of control ability implies
that as China expanding its trade relations with more countries, it stands between more pairs of countries
in the network, thus it controls more crude oil flows between countries. However, the anti-control ability
indicates the national energy security, the ability of making up supplies or demands from other sources
when some trade relations suddenly cut off. The increase of anti-control ability implies that China paid
more attention to the trade risks and energy security, and the crude oil trade strategy of China is being
optimized.