Japan is “xenophobic,” as well as Russia and China, President Joe Biden, 81, declared Wednesday in an unprecedented statement.
Japan is a longtime U.S. ally and a counterweight to China’s growing aggression in the Asia-Pacific. Biden recently worked to build trust with Japan. In April, he hosted Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit and state dinner.
While delivering live remarks at a campaign fundraiser in Washington to mark the beginning of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Biden said the United States’s economy was strong due in part “because we welcome immigrants.”