US President Joe Biden has described Japan and India as “xenophobic,” placing them in the same category as Russia and China as nations that “don’t want immigrants.”
This critique of Japan follows his recent praise of the US-Japan relationship as “unbreakable” during a state visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
India, similarly significant as a US ally, has been a concern for the US regarding human rights and religious freedoms.
The White House clarified that Mr. Biden did not intend to offend either nation.
Addressing a predominantly Asian-American audience at a campaign fundraising event on Wednesday evening, Mr. Biden emphasized that the upcoming US election in November centers on “freedom, America, and democracy.”
“Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” he added. “Think about it. 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.”
There has so far been no official reaction to the comments from the Japanese or Indian governments. The comments, however, have drawn criticism from observers in the US.
On X/Twitter, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Strategy and Force Development Elbridge Colby wrote that Japan and India “are two of our very stoutest and important allies”.
“We should speak to them with respect, which they command and deserve,” he added. “Applying parochial progressive views to our allies is patronising and foolish.”
The White House denied that the comments were meant in a derogatory sense, with national security spokesman John Kirby saying he was making a wider point on US immigration policy.
“Our allies and partners know well in tangible ways how President Biden values them, their friendship, their cooperation” Mr Kirby said. “They understand how much he completely and utterly values the idea of alliances and partnerships.”
Sadanand Dhume, a South Asia expert at the Washington DC-based American Enterprise Institute, told the BBC that Mr Biden’s comments would probably be received poorly in India experiencing a “nationalist upsurge”.
“It will confirm the idea among a section of Indians that Mr Biden is not friendly to India,” he said. “They will not take kindly to having been clubbed along with authoritarian countries like China.”
In late April, a report by the US State Department cited “significant” human rights abuses in India, a characterization the Indian government described as “deeply biased” and indicative of a “very poor understanding of India.”
However, according to Mr. Dhume, such remarks are just a “tempest in a teacup” and are “unlikely to significantly affect US-Indian relations.”
Japan, known for having some of the world’s most stringent immigration policies for decades, has recently begun to ease the entry of foreign workers in response to its steadily decreasing population.
The BBC has contacted the Japanese embassy in the US for a response.
Mr. Biden, who frequently labeled Donald Trump as xenophobic during the 2020 campaign, has adopted an increasingly restrictive immigration stance amid broad frustration—from across the political spectrum—over his management of the US-Mexico border.