India and Japan responded to comments made by President Joe Biden earlier this week in which he referred to several countries as being “xenophobic.”
During a campaign fundraiser on Wednesday, Biden noted how the United States’ economy was strong due to the fact that we “welcome immigrants,” while describing China, Russia, India, and Japan as being, “xenophobic.”
“Why is China stalling so bad economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India?” Biden asked. “Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.”
The Japanese Embassy in Washington, DC, responded to Biden’s comments by issuing a statement to Fox News in which they said they were “aware” that the White House had “clarified” that Biden’s comments were part of a “broader case” that the U.S. was a nation made up 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 Japanese embassy said in a statement.
The embassy added: “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.”
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar issued a statement in response to Biden’s comments, pointing to India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which helps to “open up doors for people who are in trouble.”
“That’s why we have the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), which is to open up doors for people who are in trouble … I think we should be open to people who have the need to come to India, who have a claim to come to India,” Jaishankar explained.
Jaishankar also argued that India had the “most open, most pluralistic” society in the world.
“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.”
