India, Japan dismiss Biden’s ‘xenophobic’ comment

India and Japan have rejected President Joe Biden’s remarks calling the US allies “xenophobic” countries who do not welcome immigrants, and grouping the two nations with China and Russia.

India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the country has historically been open to immigrants and is on strong economic footing, The Economic Times newspaper reported on Saturday.

“First of all, our economy is not faltering,” Jaishankar said at a roundtable hosted by The Economic Times on Friday, after Biden said the four nations were failing to capitalise on the economic benefits of migration.

“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 added, pointing to a contentious citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalisation for some non-Muslim immigrants.

Japan, which has the lowest immigrant population of any Group of Seven (G7) nation at less than 2 percent, also took issue with the US president’s comments, its embassy in Washington, DC, describing them as “unfortunate” and “not based on an accurate understanding of Japan’s policies”.

‘They don’t want immigrants’

At a recent campaign fundraiser, Biden criticised the countries for taking in fewer migrants, while arguing migration has bolstered the US economy.

“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,” Biden said at the event, which marked the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

“One of the reasons why our economy’s growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants.”