"Obviously, the Angolans don't want to offend the Chinese who remain an important business partner, but relations between the two countries have cooled," said Lucy Corkin, projects director at the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Today, Angola officials "don't want China to be an overwhelming presence in the economy," she said.

And since Luanda's promises to hold its first peacetime elections after a three-decade-long civil war -- with voting taking place Friday -- money from foreign donors such as the World Bank and Spain has poured in.

To be sure Chinese workers in overalls, wearing safety helmets or operating mechanical diggers, remain common sights on Luanda's streets.

They are real-life examples of the role Beijing has played in rebuilding a country devastated by 27 years of civil war.

At the end of the conflict in 2002, "Angola was looking for sources of financing all over the world, but could not get it because they had a bad record with the international financial community," said Ana Christina Alves, a researcher at the Portugese university, Institueo do Oriente.

"At that time, China was giving money to all African countries. They came at the right time. They were welcomed," Alves said.

Since 2004, the Chinese government has opened 4.5 billion dollars (3.1 billion euros) in credit lines to finance about one hundred reconstruction projects.

The China International Fund (CIF), an investment group which helps Chinese companies expand overseas, has released 2.9 billion dollars in loans.

Yet there is a certain opacity in the operations of the Chinese, who live in isolation on building sites concealed by high fences.

In return, Chinese imports of Angolan crude oil have increased sevenfold over the past six years.

"China needs natural resources and Angola needs development," President Jose Eduardo dos Santos said in 2006, summing up the relationship.

Now, however, Angolan officials "realise that Chinese companies are not the only companies that are interested in Angola," said Corkin, and are beginning to set conditions.

The changing attitude was underscored in March when two petrol companies, China's Sinopec and Angola's Sonangol, abandoned a joint project to build an oil refinery in the western port of Lobito.

Beijing wanted to import 80 percent of the refinery's production, while Luanda -- which has a single oil refinery -- wanted to favour its domestic market and other clients.

With a crude oil production of roughly two million barrels a day, Angola closely rivals Nigeria for the title of Africa's largest oil producer. Its growth will likely surpass 20 percent this year.

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