Li Ai is a program officer in the foundation’s Beijing office, where she develops programming focused on the impact of Chinese development finance in the Global South.

Before joining the foundation in 2020, she served as policy adviser and spokesperson on Belt and Road initiative (BRI) work at Greenpeace East Asia, where she led the organization’s strategic and operational planning to promote sustainable finance and a comprehensive system for responsible overseas investment in China. Earlier, she served as a program officer in the China and the Developing World program at Oxfam Hong Kong, and led work related to Chinese mining activities overseas at GIZ, the German development aid agency.

Throughout her career, Li Ai has worked closely with civil society organizations and communities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to facilitate dialogue with Chinese investors, and she was a key contributor to the development of an online overseas investment grievance mechanism that allows CSOs and communities to lodge complaints to Chinese regulators and banks.

Li Ai began her career as journalist at the Beijing Times after earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Beijing Sport University. She is currently working toward a master’s degree at the School of Public Administration at Tsinghua University.