The Japanese and Indian governments reacted Saturday to President Biden’s description of the nations as “xenophobic” last week, after he said at a campaign event that the countries and others do not welcome immigrants.
Biden grouped Japan and India alongside China and Russia as “xenophobic countries”, claiming that less openness to immigrants has caused the countries’ economies to struggle since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have never seen such an open, pluralistic and diverse society anywhere in the world,” Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said at an Economic Times event on Saturday. “In fact, not only are we not xenophobic, we are the most open, most pluralistic, and in many ways the most understanding society in the world.”
A Japanese officer told the Associated Press that Biden’s comments were unfortunate and based on a misunderstanding of the country’s policies, and accepted the White House’s characterizations of the statement as an error.
Biden, at a campaign event, said the US economy was expanding because of immigrants.
“The reason – look, think about it. Why is China so economically stagnant? Why is Japan having problems? Why is it Russia? Why is it India? Because they are xenophobic,” Biden said. “They don’t want immigrants. Immigrants are what make us strong. It’s not a joke; This is not hyperbole. Because we have a flow of workers who want to be here and want to contribute.”
The White House later said the comments meant no harm and were not intended to harm relations with Japan, a close U.S. ally.
Japan is known for its extremely strict immigration policy, which has been loosened in recent years as its economy struggles with a low birth rate. India also has few foreign residents compared to the US, although the country’s economic growth has outpaced that of the US in recent years.
The remarks were made just weeks after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington, where the pair reiterated the “unbreakable alliance” and the countries’ stance against China in the Pacific.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Washington last year and delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
