During Kenya's independence ceremonies in 1963, Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Chen Yi told Jonas Savimbi, the Secretary-General of the Union of Peoples of Northern Angola, that his country would give the UPNA (a founding group of the FNLA) "large-scale military aid".

Three years later, UNITA separatists formerly part of the FNLA, led by Savimbi, attacked Portuguese workers in Cassamba.

Armed with only ten NATO 7.62 rifles, purchased with Chinese aid, the attack failed to stop timber operations and Portuguese colonial authorities killed several UNITA members.

[4] On its 2017 medical mission to Africa, the People's Liberation Army Navy hospital ship Peace Ark traveled to Angola.

[6] Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited Angola in June 2006, offering a US$9 billion loan for infrastructure improvements in return for petroleum.

[6] On December 3, 1975, a meeting occurred between U.S. and Chinese officials, including Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping, Foreign Minister Qiao Guanhua, President Gerald Ford, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and head of the U.S. Liaison Office in Peking George H. W. Bush.

Discussions entailed who should support FNLA or UNITA, by which means and in what manner, considering the sensitivities of neighboring countries such as Zaire and South Africa.

[18]: 99  The Angolan government also declined to allow importation of genetically modified agricultural products, which further stalled aid from international organizations.

The year 2002, end of Angola's civil war, coincided with China's "going global" strategy, initiated in 1999 with the goal of internationalizing Chinese firms.

[21]: 86 From first Forum on China Africa Cooperation conference in 2000 to 2013, Beijing has completed $465 million of official development finance projects in Angola (financial amounts normalized in 2009 dollars).

[22] This includes a $90 million loan from the Exim Bank of China for the rehabilitation of the Luanda railway and the construction of a 45 km electricity distribution line between Quifangondo and Mabubas.

[23] Angola has also received a $1 billion oil-backed line of credit for the China Exim bank to repair the country's infrastructure.

[32] These infrastructure projects funded by Chinese oil-backed loans triggered investment and growth in some domestic sectors of Angola's economy.

As the domestic market grew during the 2010s, Angola's government moved to protect its local agricultural and food and beverage production industries in order to further enhance economic growth at home.

[26] Angolan public opinion on China, as gleaned from an analysis of internet commentary in the early 2010s, is reportedly mixed.