Bill Ackman says China may take advantage of President Biden withdrawal announcement

On Sunday night, President Biden announced he would withdraw as the Democratic nominee in this year’s presidential elections and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.

The statement was posted to President Biden’s personal X profile—the social media site owned by Elon Musk, formerly known as Twitter—as a signed letter.

Subsequent posts from President Biden’s account urged democrat supporters to donate to Harris’s campaign.

The announcement of President Biden’s withdrawal—following mounting speculation about the 81-year-old’s health—being posted on a social media site has earned criticism from Ackman, the founder and CEO of investment manager Pershing Square Holdings.

Also posting on X, Ackman said the decision to post Biden’s decision online and not through traditional media channels opened the door for exploitation.

“One would think that a letter to the American people from the president announcing his decision to step aside would not be signed using a digital signature and would be accompanied by a photo op and a scheduled conference in the morning that followed,” Ackman—worth $8.04 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index—wrote.

“Instead we have a digitally signed letter released on the president’s @X account, an account we know that is run by a staffer, no photo, and no live scheduled address to the American people.

“If I were China, I would invade Taiwan tomorrow,” he added, likely tongue-in-cheek.

In a subsequent post, Ackman—a fierce critic of Biden’s performance—continued: “If this were a hostage situation, that letter would not qualify as proof of life.”

An exact date or time of when President Biden will address the nation has not yet been confirmed.

One would think that a letter to the American people from the president announcing his decision to step aside would not be signed using a digital signature and would be accompanied by a photo op and a scheduled conference in the morning that followed.

Instead we have a…

— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) July 22, 2024

Ackman seems to suggest that rival world powers could take advantage of a scramble to establish how a major political event will proceed in the U.S. while Uncle Sam’s attention is directed elsewhere.

Wall Street worries

Geopolitical tensions were high on the list of Wall Street veterans’ worries even before this weekend’s news.

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has long cited geopolitical tensions as one of the largest threats to the U.S. economy and doubled down on the stance just last week.

He told Swiss newspaper NZZ: “People talk a lot about economic growth and inflation. I see that as more of a minor risk. To me, the main risks are geopolitical.”

A combination of Ukraine’s war with Russia and an increasing nuclear threat arising in the Middle East impacts the relationship between China and its Western neighbors in Europe and America.

Dimon added: “This is a dangerous series of events which could either diminish or become determinative. It’s not about the economy, it’s about freedom and democracy in the next hundred years.”

Taiwan tensions

Tensions around the Taiwanese territory have also been ramping up, given the statements issued by former President Donald Trump—the Republican nominee—in recent weeks.

The island of Taiwan sees itself as politically distinct from China, with its own democratically elected leaders, whereas China views it as part of its territory.

Though the U.S. does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it does “make available defense articles and services as necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

That being said, in an interview with Bloomberg last week, Trump said that Taiwan should be paying the U.S. for this relationship.

He said: “I think Taiwan should pay us for defense. You know, we’re no different than an insurance company. Taiwan doesn’t give us anything.”

He continued: “Taiwan took our chip business from us, I mean, how stupid are we? They took all of our chip business. They’re immensely wealthy. And I don’t think we’re any different from an insurance policy. Why? Why are we doing this?”

While Taiwan would have been hard-pressed to “take” chip factories from America, the nation is home to chip manufacturing giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which creates supply for the likes of Apple and Nvidia.