HONG KONG — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that U.S. ally Japan was facing economic difficulties because of xenophobia, along with other countries including China and Russia.
Speaking at a fundraiser in Washington that marked the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Biden said one of the reasons the US economy was growing was “because we welcome immigrants.” .
“Think about it,” he said. “Why is China so economically stagnant? Why is Japan having problems? Why is Russia?”
“Because they are xenophobic,” he said. “They don’t want immigrants.”
Japan is a longtime U.S. ally in the Asia-Pacific and Biden has been strengthening security ties with Tokyo in an effort to counter China in the region, hosting Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit and state dinner in Washington on last month.
There was no immediate reaction from Japan on Thursday, which is largely on vacation this week.
Like many countries in Asia, Japan faces demographic problems, including an aging and declining population. The country of 125 million people has been trying to attract more foreign workers, but is hampered by restrictive immigration laws that make it difficult to obtain permanent residency.
In March, the Japanese cabinet approved legislation that would more than double the cap on skilled foreign workers to more than 800,000 and replace an internship program with a training system for unskilled foreign workers that could provide medium- to long-term residency. said local media. reported.
Japan ranked 35th out of 56 countries in the Migrant Integration Policy Index 2020, which categorized the country’s approach as “immigration without integration.” Researchers said foreign citizens in Japan were denied equal opportunities and several basic rights, especially protection against discrimination, putting it far behind other developed countries.
“Japan’s current policies encourage the public to view immigrants as subordinates rather than their neighbors,” said the report said.
Japan has also been struggling with a weak yen, which is at a 34-year low against the dollarmaking it less attractive as it competes for foreign workers with places like South Korea and Taiwan.
To maintain economic growth, the country will need 6.74 million foreign workers by 2040, says the Japan International Cooperation Agency said in a 2022 reportup from 2.05 million in the country in October 2023. About a quarter of Japan’s foreign workers come from Vietnam, followed by China at 19% and the Philippines at 11%, the Labor Ministry said in January.
The country is already facing a serious labor shortage in sectors such as agriculture, construction and manufacturing, a problem worsened by the closure of borders during the Covid-19 pandemic. Authorities are also trying to address the shortage by encouraging greater women’s participation in the workforce as well as later retirement.
Japan, once the world’s second-largest economy, said in March that its economy grew at an annual rate of 0.4% in the final quarter of 2023, above an initial estimate of a 0.4% contraction that would have put him in a technical recession.
Now is the fourth largest economy in the world after falling behind Germany earlier this year.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
