A campaign to discover just how many Taiwanese-Americans there really are is being launched by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA).
FAPA president Peter Chen (陳正義) thinks there could be about 500,000, while some US government estimates put the figure at about half that number.
“Clearly there are severe discrepancies between Federal Agencies when counting the Taiwanese-American population and we need an accurate figure,” Chen said.
As a result, FAPA is petitioning the National Advisory Committee of the US Census Bureau to include a check box for “Taiwanese” on the next US census in 2020.
When FAPA petitioned for such a box in the 1997 census, the US Department of State rejected the idea, saying it would “inevitably raise sensitive political questions contrary to the US government policy and US national interest.”
The department was referring to the possibility of a strong Chinese objection should the Census Bureau include a separate Taiwan-related box in its question form.
“We believe that the demographic count from the Census Bureau is a purely domestic American affair and should not fall victim to international politics,” Chen said in his petition letter released this week by FAPA.
He said that the current policy of the Census Bureau to exclude a Taiwanese check off box was solely a US self-imposed restriction.
“We want accurate data on how many Taiwanese-Americans there are today,” Chen said. “Nobody knows how many there are. It is unconscionable. We want to be counted.”
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