Ethiopia–People's Republic of China relations
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People's Republic of China–Ethiopia relations were established in 1970. Ethiopia has an embassy in Beijing and the People's Republic of China has an embassy in Addis Ababa. By 2009, direct Chinese investment in Ethiopia had reached US$900 million and bilateral trade had grown to $1.3 billion.
It is not precisely known when China and Ethiopia first made direct contact. The sinologist A. Hermann believed that a live rhinoceros that arrived at the court of the Chinese Emperor Ping from the country of the "Agazi" or "Agazin" between AD 1 and 6 came from the Horn of Africa; however other sinologists locate that country far closer to China, perhaps in Malaysia, India or Indonesia. Ethiopian expert Richard Pankhurst is certain that by the Tang dynasty (618–907) "the Chinese were acquainted with at least part of the Horn of Africa and were trading indirectly if not directly with the Somali coast." From that period onwards, China traded with not only Ethiopia and the Horn, but with the peoples of the Eastern African coast, obtaining elephants' tusks, rhinoceros horns, pearls, the musk of the civet cat, ambergis, and slaves. Starting in the Yuan dynasty the Chinese began to increasingly trade directly with Africans, which is attested not only in contemporary documents, but from archeological finds of Chinese coins and porcelain.
Despite this early commercial contact, neither side showed much interest in diplomatic activity with one another until the twentieth century. China was one of only five governments which refused to recognize Italy's conquest of Ethiopia. Relations were poor during the Haile Selassie era, when Ethiopia was allied with the western powers in the Cold War. Chinese support for the Eritrean People's Liberation Front contributed to tension between the countries from 1967. However, the two countries established diplomatic relations on 1 December 1970 when China agreed to recognize Eritrea as Ethiopian, in exchange for Haile Selassie's recognition of Taiwan as Chinese. Relations improved for a short period after the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, but became strained as the Ethiopian military junta developed increasingly close ties with the Soviet Union. After the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front took power in 1991, relations have steadily improved, with increasing diplomatic contacts and growing trade and Chinese investment in the Ethiopian economy.
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