Japan’s government says it was “unfortunate” that President Joe Biden called Japan, a U.S. ally, “xenophobic” in remarks last week.
During a campaign reception in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Biden lumped Japan in with U.S. adversaries Russia and China while arguing that immigration can help to create strong economies.
“One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants. We look to — the reason — look, think about it,” Biden said.
“Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” he added.
“Immigrants is [sic] what makes us strong,” Biden continued. “Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole. Because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and just contribute.”
Fox News reported on Saturday that the Japanese Embassy had given a response to Biden, alluding to a defense of the president given by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in speaking to reporters.
“We are aware that the U.S. government has clarified that President Biden’s comment was made in the context of explaining that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants and that immigrants make the U.S. stronger, and that his comment was not made with the intent of undermining the importance and permanence of the Japan-U.S. relationship,” the embassy said.
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“It is unfortunate that some of the comments were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan’s policies, and we have raised this point to the U.S. government and explained Japan’s positions and policies once again,” Japanese officials added.
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar also rebuffed Biden on Saturday, touting his country’s GDP growth while insisting that India is a welcoming place during an event organized by the Economic Times newspaper in New Delhi, according to the Associated Press.
“I haven’t seen such an open, pluralistic, and diverse society anywhere in the world. We are actually not just not xenophobic, we are the most open, most pluralistic and in many ways the most understanding society in the world,” Jaishankar said.