Japan is not a xenophobic country - by Noah Smith

The other day at a fundraiser, Joe Biden made a casual comment that I consider to be the worst gaffe of his entire term as President. He declared that two of America’s most important allies, India and Japan, are “xenophobic”, and placed them in the same category as Russia and China:

“You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants. 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,” Biden said, according to an official White House transcript released Thursday.

From a diplomatic standpoint, this was extremely stupid, since it insults our allies while gaining absolutely nothing. It’s also a little hypocritical, given that Biden just vowed to block a Japanese steel company from acquiring U.S. Steel on incredibly flimsy pretexts — not to mention all the restrictive measures Biden has taken towards immigration over the course of his presidency in order to appease the U.S. public. Glass houses, etc.

The White House should have walked the comment back and apologized, but instead it defended the remark, saying it was part of a “broader point”. The fact that even a Democratic administration can so casually insult key allies should make us a little more pessimistic about the U.S.’ ability to assemble a global coalition of democracies in the decades to come.

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