US President Joe Biden calls India, China, Russia and Japan ‘xenophobic’ nations

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, May 2

US President Joe Biden has called his country’s Quad allies, Japan and India, as “xenophobic” countries that are unwelcoming to immigrants. He applied the definition to China and Russia while contrasting the American economy and polity with these four countries at an election fundraising speech on Wednesday.

“This election is about freedom, America and democracy. That’s why I badly need you. You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” said Biden at a fundraiser on Wednesday evening, according to a transcript of his speech uploaded by The White House.

“We look to — the reason — look, 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,” said Biden, once again the Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party for the November 4 elections.

“Immigrants are what makes us strong. Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole, because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and want to contribute,’’ he added.

Biden’s remarks came three weeks after he had hosted Japanese PM Fumio Kishida for an official visit. During the visit, both sides had announced several new military agreements which Biden had said was “the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established’’.

Biden had hosted PM Modi for a lavish State visit in June last year. However, he has not spoken or met PM Modi since September last year when he had arrived here for the G20 summit. But India is a member of Quad along with Japan, the US and Australia.

India and Japan are members of QUAD — a four-member strategic security dialogue that also includes the US and Australia. Equally importantly, India is a member of the 14-country Indo-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) that is billed as a US-led repivot to counter China’s rise as the prime economic and trading power in the east. The IPEF pointedly does not include China and its three close ASEAN allies — Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

The issue of immigration has deeply divided the US polity due to a huge spike in their numbers. The US Border Patrol arrested 22 lakh illegal immigrants in 2022 of which one lakh claimed to be from India, according to Statista. Biden’s presumptive rival Donald Trump has taken a stand against immigration,