Japan calls Biden ‘xenophobic’ comments ‘unfortunate’

The US president said during a campaign fundraising event earlier this week that Japan, India, China and Russia “don’t want immigrants”.

The White House has said he meant no offence and was merely highlighting US immigration policies.

The comment, however, has drawn scorn from some US and foreign observers.

The US government later clarified that his comment was meant in the context of explaining “that the US is a nation of immigrants and that immigrants make the US stronger”, and did not have “the intent of undermining” the US-Japan relationship.

Japan’s embassy said on Friday that it was “aware” of the clarification.

The embassy said the visit showed that the US-Japan relationship was “stronger than ever”.

Chen Weihua, a prominent columnist for the state-owned China Daily, said on X, formerly Twitter, that the US president was “obsessed with smearing China… It’s a serious mental disease.”