Japan, India Responds To Biden Calling Them ‘Xenophobic’

The Japanese government has addressed President Joe Biden’s labeling of the country as “xenophobic” at a fundraiser last week.

‘Unfortunate’: Japan Responds To Being Called ‘Xenophobic’ By Biden https://t.co/YDUhbDQEH4 pic.twitter.com/hl7ifDtisw

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According to Fox News, the Japanese Embassy responded to Biden’s remarks and his defense by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who explained that the president was trying to make a broader case about the United States being “a nation of immigrants.”

“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 stated.

“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,” they added.

Biden had listed Japan alongside India and U.S. adversaries China and Russia while comparing them to the U.S. in a bid to make the case that immigration can help 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,” he said, adding, “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.”

India has also rejected Biden’s labeling, with India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar painting a picture of India as a welcoming place during a roundtable on Saturday.

“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 stated.

Noting that India’s annual GDP growth is 7%, Jaishankar added, “You check some other countries’ growth rate, you will find an answer.”

The U.S. economy grew by 2.5% last year, according to the government.