Three questions on China's “Belt and Road Initiative”

•Three broad questions about China's “Belt and Road Initiative” are discussed.•The Initiative's official objectives would be achieved only in some countries.•Investment and trade under the Initiative will not be driven solely by market.•China should prevent rent-seeking behavior in its preferential policies.•The success of the Initiative will depend on many factors beyond China's control.

Three broad questions about China's “Belt and Road Initiative” are raised. First, what are likely to be the real objectives behind the Initiative? Second, are investment and trade, considered the “major task” of the Initiative by China, to be driven by market-based transactions, or will they be a form of foreign aid that is not based on economic calculation of gains and losses? Third, which of the 60 or so countries in Asia, Europe and Africa along the Belt and Road will likely be the Initiative's priority targets of economic cooperation?