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.

In 1971 Ethiopia voted in favour to change the representation of a China by admitting the Beijing government expelling the unlawful representatives based in Taipei.

[10] As a part of China's diplomacy, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) conducted significant party-to-party relations with the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

[14] In May 2007, China's Assistant Minister of Commerce Wang Chao visited Addis Ababa and signed a debt relief agreement worth US$18.5 million.

[16] In November 2008, the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress visited Ethiopia where he met senior Ethiopian officials and political leaders including President Girma Wolde-Giorgis and discussed ways to strengthen economic cooperation.

For Ethiopia, Chinese finance provides critical support for the government's legitimacy, as electricity, transport, and employment opportunities continue to expand, stimulating economic growth and helping promote exports to other countries.

[10][20] Chinese aid to Ethiopia has included dispatch of medical teams and teachers, and educational scholarships for Ethiopian students studying in China.

Although the plan was to use Chinese vocational instructions, the school eventually switched to German instructors, with students learning skills including engineering, automobile, architecture and construction.

In 2002, for example, the Sino Hydro Corporation started work on the estimated US$224 million Tekeze hydroelectric project with a 607-foot dam on the Tekezé River due for completion in 2007.

[31] After delays due in part to problems with massive landslides, the project was completed for a final cost of US$365 million in July 2009 and should deliver 300 megawatts of power.

[32][33] In July 2009, Ethiopia signed further agreements with China for the Sino Hydro Corporation to build 2,150 megawatts of hydro-electric capacity with the Gibe IV (Omo River) and Halele Werabesa dams, in a deal worth US$2.67 billion.

[38] Exports from Ethiopia to China have grown from negligible levels before 2000 to around US$130 million in 2006, primarily in raw materials such as sesame seeds and partially finished leather.

[10] The Ethiopian government has encouraged imports, purchasing Chinese equipment and supplying it to local construction and manufacturing firms on a lease-to-buy basis.

[38] In a paper prepared for the OECD, economist Tegegne Gebre Egziabher of Addis Ababa University notes that in the short term, cheap Chinese imports may have damaged local producers.

[40] Sinopec is a part owner of the joint venture POLY-GCL Petroleum, which as of 2023 is developing a $4 billion natural gas project in Ethiopia and which will include a pipeline to the Djiboutian coast and an export terminal.

[3]: 165  According to David H. Shinn and academic Joshua Eisenman, the project underscore China's commitment to expanding its import of liquified natural gas from African countries.

[3]: 304  Ethiopia uses the satellite for environmental protection, weather forecasting, crop monitoring, natural resources applications, and earth observatory tasks.