The latest US census shows that in the past year more than 230,000 people across the US identified themselves as Taiwanese or of Taiwanese descent, an increase from 145,000 people in the 2000 census.
Earlier population censuses in the US had classified Taiwanese as “Chinese,” but following protests by the US-based Formosan Association for Public Affairs, the Formosa Foundation, the Taiwanese American Citizens League and other organizations and groups formed by US-based Taiwanese, the category “Taiwanese” has been made separate from that of “Chinese.”
The Taiwanese American Citizens League even launched a video campaign on YouTube urging Taiwanese to identify as “Taiwanese” in last year’s census.
“Asian ethnicities such as Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino and Vietnamese are able to click on a button to declare their ethnicity in the census. For someone of Taiwanese descent to declare their ethnicity, they need to click on a bubble reading ‘other Asian’ and then write in ‘Taiwanese.’ Many Taiwanese Americans and Taiwanese are unaware of this when filling out Census questionnaires,” a statement on the Taiwanese Census 2010 Campaign’s Web site said.
“By educating and encouraging families, professionals and college students alike to properly fill out the census, we can achieve a larger and more accurate count,” the statement said.
“Thus, the voice of Taiwanese America will be more strongly considered by the political, financial and social consciousness of the United States of America,” the statement added.
According to last year’s census, close to 110,000 Taiwanese lived in California, making this the highest concentration of Taiwanese in any US state by far. New York came in second, with 18,860 Taiwanese, followed by Texas, with 16,555.
New Jersey counts more than 10,000 Taiwanese and even in the sparsely populated state of South Dakota, 40 people identified themselves as Taiwanese.
Taiwanese live in 50 states in the US — even Puerto Rico, a protectorate of the US, is not exempt, the latest US census shows.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS