Xenophobia in Asian powerhouses

President Joe Biden took an unusually harsh — though entirely merited — tone on India and the prevalence of xenophobic attitudes in the country. Though the American President was speaking in the context of economic development, his speech to Asian-American supporters hit hard at four major Asian economies — China, Japan, India and Russia. President Biden said that all four countries are unwelcoming to immigrants and blamed this for stunting their development. This is especially true of China, Russia and India, which, despite being huge geographically and having hundreds of unique regional cultures in their countries, are notorious for being difficult places for foreigners to live and work.

Meanwhile, Japan, which is much smaller geographically and more culturally homogenous, has a long history of restrictive immigration rules. However, the Far Eastern country is now in a situation where immigration might be the only thing that could save it. Tokyo is allowing millions of migrants to come to the country to avoid a demographic disaster brought on by a shrinking and aging population. Low birth rates and the corresponding shortage of young workers are also partly to blame for economic stagnation. Russia has a similar demographic problem, worsened by limited economic opportunities for potential migrants.

China has so far used internal migration to meet labour demands, but it will also have to ponder its immigration policies in the coming decades.

But it is, in fact, India where foreigners feel most unwelcome, but also most unsafe — the South Asian country is regularly ranked among the most dangerous countries in the world to be a woman, religious tolerance is on the decline, and freedom of speech and movement are being heavily restricted by the increasingly authoritarian government. Taking from Biden, it is also important to note that while most of the people moving to the US, or even Japan and China, “want to be here”, lower and middle-class migrants to India often only see the country as a launch pad to work their way to developed countries.

A major factor is India’s rejection of its history as a melting pot. Hindu nationalists are rewriting history and rejecting the parts that don’t suit their worldview, which also scares off new migrants, who are forced to assimilate in ways they may not want to, or even practically need to. Cosmopolitan areas are also no longer insulated from this intolerance, which means even top international companies are thinking twice, as friendlier Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam offer better environs for international workforces. The situation will continue to worsen till Indian voters accept that hyper-nationalism is a cancer, not a cure.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2024.

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