Legal Aspects of Sino-African Tied Aid : The Art of Playing with a Legal Grey Area

Sino-African trade has seen a fifty-fold increase in the years 1999 to 2008. However, China holds not a single Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the African continent, while other major trading partners of African economies rely on an extensive framework of trade and economic partnership agreements. So what is the legal basis of Sino-African trade if it is not secured by conventional trade agreements? Given the large impact of China on the African market, does the wise Asian dragon rather prove to be a cunning fox in disguise? Is engaging in economic relations outside of the trodden paths of free trade a cunning scheme or is China's somewhat unorthodox support of the African economies in fact a sustainable and wise strategy for economic development?The aim of this paper is to qualify the legal character of the Chinese economic involvement particularly in the infrastructure and services sectors on the African continent. The Chinese involvement is often based on state loans provided by the Chinese Exim bank2 in return for oil or other commodities, and it is largely unknown what legal rights and duties are attached to these kinds of agreements. Outlining possible implications of the legal character of the contracts based on the so-called Angola-Model provides the basis for a discussion on the policy-space in the Sino-African economic relationship and on more fundamental, systemic questions concerning the structure of international trade law