The People's Republic of China (PRC) established diplomatic relations with Tanganyika and Zanzibar on December 9, 1961, and December 11, 1963, respectively. When Tanganyika and Zanzibar were united and became Tanzania on April 26, 1964, the PRC extended its diplomatic ties to it.
Tanganyika became the tenth African state to recognize the PRC in 1964 and the first to do it within days of independence.Bailey, Martin. “Tanzania and China.” African Affairs, vol. 74, no. 294, Jan. 1975, pp. 39–50. Military and political unrest in the 1960s in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar further strengthened ties between the two countries. On January 12, 1964, the Zanzibar Revolution dramatically increased PRC government influence on the island as it quickly recognized the new regime and provided development assistance and military aid. Additionally, the mutiny of the Tanganyikan army on January 19, 1964, led President Julius Nyerere to request external military assistance to rebuild his army, which was answered first by the Chinese, who became primary suppliers of military assistance to the Tanzania People's Defence Force. Moreover, Tanzania's resistance to alignment with either Cold War superpower and continued emphasis on the liberation of Southern Africa created hostility with the West. In 1965, Tanzania and the PRC signed a ten-year friendship treaty. In 1970, the PRC became the major supplier of military assistance to the Tanzanian armed forces and became the largest bilateral source of development aid.
Economic ties From the outset of bilateral relations, China has assisted Tanzania with a variety of economic aid programs. During the Ujamaa era, China was Tanzania's most significant donor of foreign aid. More than half of China's aid to Africa in 1964 went to Tanzania. From 1964 to 1975, China provided Tanzania with monetary aid, technological support, doctors, teachers, cultural products, and other forms of both collaborative and unilateral assistance.
The most notable early aid project was the TAZARA Railway built from 1970 to 1975 with Chinese funding, labor and technical assistance. China funded the project after the World Bank and other potential donors declined to do so. The 1,860 km railway connects landlocked Zambia with Dar es Salaam. The Chinese government sent as many as 56,000 workers, and has continued to aid the railway in the decades since. Other early aid cooperative economic projects included establishing a joint shipping line and the Uhuru Railway.
From 2000 to 2011, there are approximately 62 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Tanzania through various media reports.Austin Strange, Bradley C. Parks, Michael J. Tierney, Andreas Fuchs, Axel Dreher, and Vijaya Ramachandran. 2013. China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection. CGD Working Paper 323. Washington DC: Center for Global Development. These projects range from the Chinese government's efforts to launch the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank,Strange, Parks, Tierney, Fuchs, Dreher, and Ramachandran, China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection.http://aiddatachina.org/projects/1905 to a loan of $400 million to help alleviate the Kiwira coal mine's financial problems,Strange, Parks, Tierney, Fuchs, Dreher, and Ramachandran, China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection.http://aiddatachina.org/projects/1906 and the construction of the Benjamin Mkapa Olympic Stadium, namely the National Stadium.Strange, Parks, Tierney, Fuchs, Dreher, and Ramachandran, China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection.http://aiddatachina.org/projects/1783 In 2020, Tanzania canceled a $10 billion loan that was part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
In July 2025, in response to local backlash against Chinese-owned businesses, Tanzania prohibited foreign nationals from engaging in 15 types of business activities in the country, ranging from small-scale mining to parcel delivery.
Mining In September 2011, China's Sichuan Hongda Co. signed an agreement with Tanzania to mine iron ore and coal; the joint venture with Tanzania's National Development Corporation is worth more than US$3 billion.Robbins, Glen, and David Perkins. “Mining FDI and Infrastructure Development on Africa's East Coast: Examining the Recent Experience of Tanzania and Mozambique.” Journal of International Development, vol. 24, no. 2, 2012, pp. 220–236., . The project has given the Tanzanians access to agreements with the Chinese government, including financing of natural gas pipelines, power plant developments, as well as a port, railway, and roadway upgrades. These mineral resources are concentrated in areas distant from the coast, posing infrastructural and logistical challenges that constrain economic activity like trade. This is evident from prospecting companies and their mining partners looking at major South and Eastern Tanzania projects citing infrastructure as the primary deterrent to investment. Mining companies require infrastructural networks that can handle high tonnage loads, which are widely absent and lack government stakeholder support and investment. However, the Central Development Corridor has engaged in significant planning to improve infrastructure in the northwest gold mining region and the nickel and iron-ore deposit regions along the borders with Rwanda and Burundi. Institutional infrastructure is available via the Central Corridor Transit Transport, which maintains and regulates roadways but has done little to improve rail and power grid improvements.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) In the 1960s, China helped Tanzania expand its domestic radio broadcasting, helping to reorganize the colonial-era Taganyika Broadcasting Company into Radio Tanzania and donating radio equipment and providing technical training.
Chinese financial institutions and technology companies supported Tanzania's telecommunications revolution of the 1990s and 2000s.China-Powered ICT Infrastructure: Lessons from Tanzania and Cambodia. South African Institute of International Affairs; 2021. In February 2009, the Tanzanian National ICT Broadband Fibreoptic Backbone (NICTBB) was launched to provide higher capacity ICT services at a more affordable rate to make Tanzania East Africa's digital hub. The project was financed with US$264 million in loans from Export–Import Bank of China and was implemented by the China International Telecommunications Construction Corporation (CITCC) and Huawei. In 2010, phase II of the NICTBB project launched with an additional US$100 million in loans from China's Exim bank with the stipulation that Chinese suppliers and equipment be used for the project; therefore, the partnership with the CITCC and Huawei continued. The project is being used to lower costs of communication, promote e-learning, e-health, e-commerce, e-government, and facilitate the development of science and technology.
Infrastructure
Tazara The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (Tazara) is a 1,860 km long railway from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to Kaprimposhi, Zambia, to link Central and Southern Africa with East Africa to facilitate trade, tourism, and inter-state cooperation.Vhumbunu, Clayton Hazvinei. “Enabling African Regional Infrastructure Renaissance through the China-Africa Partnership: A Trans-Continental Appraisal.” International Journal of China Studies African Infrastructure Renaissance, vol. 7, no. 3, Dec. 2016, pp. 271–300. On September 5, 1967, the first agreement regarding the railway was signed by China, Tanzania, and Zambia, representing the beginning of China's formal commitment to the project in that they agreed to provide the technical and professional manpower needed for each phase of construction.Yu, George T. “Working on the Railroad: China and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.” Asian Survey, vol. 11, no. 11, Nov. 1971, pp. 1101–1117. By 1970 China officially agreed to finance the project by providing a $401 million interest-free loan shared equally between Tanzania and Zambia. The loan was repayable over 30 years with a 5-year grace period and required repayments to be made in third-party currency or from the two countries exports. The railway project implemented by the Chinese Engineering Construction Company included the construction of 320 bridges, 22 tunnels, and 2,225 culverts along the trains pathway and required additional financing from the Chinese to cover the cost of power, rolling stock, steel rails, signaling equipment, cement, stations, a training school, workshops, and other related infrastructure. Since 2010, China has continued its technical and financial support for the Tazara by funding and upgrading the railway to achieve increased operational efficiency to help meet growing passenger and trade demand.
Unity Bridge The Ponte da Unidad/Umoja, also known as the unity bridge, is a 720-meter-long bridge connecting Tanzania with Mozambique across the Rovuma River. The China GeoEngineering Corporation implemented the project with funding from the Tanzanian and Mozambique governments at a total cost of US$26.8 million. The bridge, which opened in May 2010, is lowering business costs in the region by facilitating a more accessible route for trade and travel between Southern African and East Africa.
National stadium In 2007 the Beijing Construction Engineering Group completed the construction of the Tanzanian National Stadium located in Dar es Salaam.Sortijas, Steve. “Tanzania's New National Stadium and the Rhetoric of Development.” Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, vol. 33, no. 2-3, 2007, pp. 25–35. The new stadium was estimated to cost more than $60 million, with the Tanzanian government contributing more than half of the project's total financing. The stadium is considered another landmark accomplishment in China-Tanzanian relations, a sentiment communicated by former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who emphasized the high-quality construction and importance of the two nations' cooperation in his visit to the site in 2006.
Bagamoyo Port Bagamoyo is the site of a Chinese-run special economic zone with a mega-port constructed by China Merchants Ports Holdings. In 2012, The Tanzanian government, Oman, China Merchants Ports Holdings came to an agreement on a flagship Belt and Road initiative project with a total investment of over US$10 billion. In addition to the port itself, the 3,000-hectare site will link Tanzania's new Standard gauge railway and the Tanzania-Zambia railway. However, the project faced several challenges, including in 2016, when the project was briefly canceled.
Zanzibar International Airport In January 2011, the Chinese Beijing Construction Engineering Group began upgrading Tanzania's Zanzibar international airport by renovating terminal 2 and constructing terminal 3. The Tanzanian government received US$70 million in financing from China's Exim Bank to support the project, which is projected to support the travel of 1.5 million passengers annually. In addition to expanding air transport for passengers, the project also improves air transport of goods to and from Zanzibar by providing a safe and reliable airport for large aircraft and a high volume of flights.
Belt and Road Initiative