Ray Dalio says US-China ties are critical as world enters dangerous new era

Billionaire investor and philanthropist Ray Dalio has called the US-China relationship the single most critical factor for global well-being, as the war on Iran shakes the world order and leaders of the two superpowers prepare to meet next month.

Strong ties between Beijing and Washington could unlock immense progress for humanity, while bad relations could cause catastrophic damage, Dalio warned at an event for his non-profit ocean exploration initiative OceanX in Shanghai on Wednesday.

“We are at a juncture in which we have to deal with the changing world order,” the founder of Bridgewater Associates said when commenting on the situation in the Middle East, as he urged global elites to “rise above ourselves and realise that there are win-win relationships that are better than lose-lose relationships”.

While noting there was no effective “court” to resolve disputes between nations, Dalio said there was “nothing more important to the world’s health than the Chinese-American relationship.”

“If there’s wonderful Chinese-American relations, think about the things that they can do together for humanity to make things better, and if there’s bad relationships, think about the damage that can do,” he added.

Against the backdrop of temporarily eased US-China tensions, Dalio’s OceanX on Wednesday concluded a rare people-to-people exchange backed by the Chinese government: a joint goodwill mission that brought together 10 American and 10 Chinese early-career ocean scientists, students and instructors.

South China Morning Post