Is the New Kadampa Tradition paid for by the Chinese government?

No, it is not. The NKT has not received a penny from the Chinese government, nor had any dealings with them at all.

This is a fairly common accusation, including fabricated claims that Reuters found links between Chinese operatives and the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), but it is not true. Not a shred of evidence has been produced in support of this claim.

In the Internal Rules (§3) it says:

The New Kadampa Tradition shall always be an entirely independent Buddhist tradition and the NKT-IKBU shall have no political affiliations.

The New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) has never had, nor ever will have, any political affiliations with the Chinese or Tibetan governments; or any other government for that matter. Mixing religion and politics is the cause of huge problems. It is common for anyone who criticizes the Dalai Lama to be labelled a “Chinese sympathizer” or to be accused of being on the payroll of the Chinese Government, but in the case of the NKT-IKBU this is an entirely false claim.