Photo: Mandel Ngan Agence France-Presse US President Joe Biden greets service members upon arriving at a military base in Delaware on April 30.
France Media Agency in Washington
Published at 9:38 a.m. Updated at 10:27 p.m.
- United States
China and Russia, rivals of the United States, but also India and Japan, allies of Washington, are “xenophobic” countries, Joe Biden said during a campaign meeting on Wednesday.
“Why is China stalling so economically ? Why is Japan having problems ? And Russia ? And India ? Because they are xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” the American president said, according to remarks the transcript of which was only made public on Thursday.
The 81-year-old Democrat participated in a campaign meeting dedicated to Asian Americans.
He will run for a second term in November, against former Republican President Donald Trump.< /p>
These campaign events are neither filmed nor recorded, but a handful of journalists attend and provide a written report.
“One of the reasons our economy is growing is because of you and others. Why ? Because we welcome immigrants,” Joe Biden said again.
If China and Russia are rivals of the United States, his comments on Japan and India are surprising.
Joe Biden has in fact been obliged, since he became president, to strengthen ties with the allies of America in Asia, and in particular with New Delhi and Tokyo.
He, for example, received Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi then Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for discussions state dinners, a rare mark of diplomatic favor.
“The point of view that the president was taking, and I think people around the world are aware of this, is that the United States is a country of immigrants, it's in our DNA,” explained the National Security Council spokesman John Kirby Thursday in an interview with the press.
“Our allies know very well how much the president respects them, how much he cares importance to their friendship, to their contributions,” he added.