A top hedge fund manager who once likened China‘s human rights abuses to being a “strict parent” sits on the board of an NGO whose goal is to advance the priorities of the Chinese Communist Party.
Ray Dalio, a self-described moderate who has been critical of Democrats and Republicans, sits alongside several Chinese businessmen with ties to the CCP on the board of the China Global Philanthropy Institute. CGPI, which has received accolades from the Chinese government for its work, conducts research and educates professionals intending to help the CCP achieve its goals in the realm of civil society.
Ma Weihua, the chairman of the organization’s board of directors, previously served in China’s National People’s Congress and was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a government body which describes itself as “a major achievement of the Communist Party of China” that exists to integrate “Marxist-Leninist theories on the united front, political parties, and democratic politics with the unique realities and fine traditional culture of China.”
Dalio sits alongside Ma and a number of others with links to the Chinese government on CGPI’s board of directors. Trustee Shen Xuxin is also a member of the CPCC, board supervisor Liu Jing held leadership roles in the Chinese government before joining the CGPI, and trustee Lei Yongsheng is the chief supervisor of the China Charity Alliance, an organization led by China’s minister of civil affairs that undertakes tasks “assigned by the government.” Wang Zhenyao, the founding president of the CGPI and the man who convinced Dalio to co-found the NGO, served as the director of China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs before embarking on transforming Chinese philanthropy.
Dalio has landed himself in hot water for his comments on China’s approach to human rights. In 2021, Dalio likened China to a “strict parent” when discussing the disappearances of political dissidents in the country, sparking backlash. He later walked these comments back, saying that he “sloppily answered a question” and affirming his commitment to human rights.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who also has a background in finance, has criticized Dalio for his activities in China.
“Ray Dalio is brilliant and a friend, but his feigned ignorance of China’s horrific abuses and rationalization of complicit investments, there is a sad moral lapse,” the senator wrote in 2021. “Tragically, it is shared by far too many here and throughout the free world.”
In addition to being led by former members of the Chinese government, CGPI has also won the praise of the Chinese government for its operations, with the Ministry of Civil Affairs granting it an award for its research on public services. More than 20 individuals trained by CGPI received awards at the state-run China Charity Awards in 2021. The admiration goes both ways as Ma, the CGPI chairman, praised the CCP in 2019 for making “historic progress in its fight against poverty.”
The warm relationship between CGPI and the CCP is reflected in the organization’s operations.
CGPI is a proponent of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a state-funded global infrastructure investment project that critics argue is being used by China to build political influence in foreign nations.
“With the wisdom and responsibility of a great power, China is strengthening international cooperation and promoting exchange and integration of economy and culture of the Belt and Road countries with win-win cooperation,” a 2019 press release reads, describing the infrastructure program. “CGPI is willing to provide academic support for the ‘Belt and Road’ World Charity Journey, jointly contribute to Belt and Road construction, and contribute to the development of philanthropy in China and the world.”
CGPI believes in “integrating charity into the Belt and Road Initiative” to help “guarantee” its success in part by encouraging “private foundations to take part in and contribute to the initiative.”
In 2019, the organization signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian philanthropists to commemorate Italy’s entrance into the global infrastructure program. It was joined by the China Development Research Foundation in signing the memorandum. The China Development Research Foundation operates under the State Council, which is the “executive body of the supreme organ of state power,” according to the National People’s Congress. The Dalio Foundation granted nearly $6 million to the state-run research foundation between 2018 and 2023, according to tax forms.
The Government Accountability Office, the U.S. federal government’s official watchdog agency, worries that China is using the Belt and Road Initiative to purchase influence in the developing world by shackling nations with infrastructure debt, according to a report released in October.
CGPI launched a “Global Climate Action” initiative alongside the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2018. The State Council oversees the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and its president, a member of the CCP, wrote that the agency “will be guided by Xi Jinping’s thoughts on socialism with Chinese characteristics for [a] new era.” Among the initiative’s goals were building a “green” Belt and Road Initiative.
Aside from lending his name and labor to CGPI, Dalio also donates a considerable amount of wealth to the organization. The Dalio Foundation has donated about $2.2 million to the NGO since 2018, according to the most recently available tax forms. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who helped Dalio found CGPI, himself directs millions of dollars into the arms of the Chinese government and organizations that collaborate with the Chinese military through the Gate Foundation. Robert Rosen, the director of philanthropic partnerships at the Gates Foundation, also sits on CGPI’s board of directors.
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Politically, Dalio positions himself as a moderate. He has called the Republican Party “unethical” and “almost fascist” while lambasting Democrats for being “untruthful and enigmatic.”
“What the country needs is the moderates coming together to be able to work together and make great reform,” Dalio said in September, criticizing both Vice President Kamala Harris and President-elect Donald Trump. “What the country needs is broad-based prosperity.”
Trump and Harris were both critical of China on the campaign trail, often accusing each other of being too weak on the CCP.
CGPI and the Dalio Foundation did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
