Ray Dalio says China is winning the economic race against the US, as the billionaire investor doubles down on controversial stance

• Billionaire investor Ray Dalio has said China is winning the economic race against the US.
• The hedge fund titan told the BBC that China would likely become "stronger in most ways."

Billionaire investor Ray Dalio has said China is winning the economic competition against the US, doubling down on his controversial stance on the country.

Asked on the $4 program Thursday whether China was beating the US, Dalio said: "Yes, it's winning."

He added: "Their growth rate at a slow level is about twice the Western world's growth rate at a fast level."

The hedge fund titan also predicted the Chinese economy would overtake the US in size to become much more powerful.

"[China is] four times the size population-wise [than] the United States," he told $4. "So if its per capita income was half the size, the [economy] as a whole would be twice the size.

"So yes, that's the character of the environment where it's winning and it has a lot more likelihood of being much larger, stronger in most ways."

Dalio founded, and is now the chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, the biggest hedge fund in the world. His net worth is $20 billion, according to Forbes.

The famous investor has waded into controversy over China, with critics accusing him of ignoring the human rights issues in a country in which he has significant financial interests. The $4 has reported that Dalio recently raised $1.3 billion for its third China fund.

Dalio found himself in the spotlight last month after likening Beijing to $4, when asked by CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin about the country's human rights record and the disappearance from public view of tennis player Peng Shuai.

Senator Mitt Romney $4 Dalio's "feigned ignorance of China's horrific abuses and rationalization of complicit investments… is a sad moral lapse."

Dalio later $4 and that he took China's human rights record into account when investing there.

Read more: $4

China's economy has grown almost 10% a year on average since Beijing carried out major reforms in the late 1970s, lifting more than 800 million people out of poverty, according to the $4.

China's gross domestic product in dollar terms is around $14.7 trillion, whereas that of the US is $20.9 trillion, $4 shows.

Yet there are clouds on the horizon, with highly indebted property developer Evergrande teetering $4 and a $4.

Dalio told the BBC that he believes the collapse of Evergrande is being dealt with in a "healthy" way and that it will be good for the Chinese economy for the government to curb property speculation.