Taiwan’s longstanding unresolved international status keeps the island out of the United Nations and the World Health Organization and has been described by the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals as caught in “political purgatory”. Taiwan’s purgatory extends to the United States Census Bureau.
Although the Census Bureau is making efforts to avoid an undercount of Taiwan-Americans, a perfect storm exists to cause a miscount. The Office of Management and Budget determines the Census race question resulting in an “apples and oranges” mixture of skin color, language, and nationality. Persons of Asian heritage are given a list of countries and islands to chose from except individuals from Taiwan.
Taiwanese-Americans who wish to be counted must check the “Other Asian” box and then write in Taiwanese. In the 2000 Census, 144,795 persons were counted as Taiwanese--but only on specialized tabulations of Asian respondents. For the general population tally Taiwanese respondents were counted as Chinese.
The Taiwanese American Association thinks the 2000 number should have been closer to a million based on information and data from the community. “We strongly believe that the Taiwanese [population] was undercounted in the 1990 and 2000 Census.”
Making matters worse are the reported remarks of a Census official last year that in 2000 a half-million people actually self-identified as Taiwanese. The Republic of China in-exile cited the higher number on the official Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office website.
“David Choy, the Asian-Pacific Specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Seattle Regional Office said, that in the 2000 US Census 500,000 people classified themselves as “Taiwanese” and filled in the blank space on the census as such.”
Regardless if the 2000 Census saw 144,795 or 500,000 Taiwanese, what is a person supposed to do with this year’s form?
A check with the Questionnaire Reference Book, the handbook for the Census call-in centers where official answers are provided, has a “strategic ambiguity” as confounding to understand as America’s “acknowledgment” of the “one China” policy. Citizens and Census workers seeking directions on the correct way for a Taiwanese-American to self-identify will not get an easy answer to the Census Bureau’s own “Taiwan question”.
“Mark the “Chinese” box if this person indicates their race as “Chinese” or identifies themselves as Cantonese or Chinese-American. In some census tabulations, written entries of Taiwanese are included with Chinese while in others they are shown separately.”
To see the ROC claim of 500,000 Taiwanese-Americans see link:
http://www.taiwanembassy.org/US/ct.asp?xItem=98681&ctNode=2295&mp=12&nowPage=4&pagesize=15
Comments
Maybe they should write "Taiwanese (NOT Chinese)" on the form.
"Tim Maddog says:
Maybe they should write "Taiwanese (NOT Chinese)" on the form. "
Yeah and maybe you should be the one to write it cause you're pretty smart.
But maybe they will delete it just like you do.
Tim Maddog is a respected blogger and a good resource about Taiwan. However, Tim's editorial decisions are not relevant to the discussion here about the U.S. Census. Any more off-topic commentary be deleted.
To be more accurate the Republic of Formosa in-exile in the USA should request the Census Bureau to include Taiwanese in their forms and under Taiwanese also subdivide to. A. Han-Taiwanese B.
Amis-Taiwanese C. Atayal-Taiwanese D. Paiwan-Taiwanese and so on.
If one is ethnically Han Chinese (98% of Taiwan) but from Taiwan, do they still get to put Taiwanese down, given that the question asks for "Race", not "Nationality". Otherwise, it would seem like it's a violation of Title 13 Section 221, subject to a $500 fine (though I doubt the government really cares).
The Census Bureau allows people to self-identify. The "race" category is flawed because it mixes skin color, language, nationality in the effort to label people.
If one is diligent and observant, look at the Asian category and focus on the "Other". You will see examples there--Pakistani is in that example. One could say why suggest Pakistani as a separate race? There is already Indian. One could argue that Pakistani is no different than Indians other than religion and separation by such. If yes to Pakistani, then why not to Taiwanese?? Also Taiwanese majority whether Holo or Hakka have aboriginal genetics that are unique from those in China! The Taiwanese mainlanders may put down how they identify and feel. Identity of Nationalism, Race, Ethnicity, mixed with political, religion, and history is not always easy to define. The other concept is who have made themselves a "PEOPLE". This may define nationality, ethnicity, and race. For Star Trek fans--Vulcan race vs Romulan race. Just like Pakistani vs Indian. Taiwanese in this sense for the census may be counted as such-a race!
Also Chinese also is not an accurate term for race--The "chinese" living in northern china are not closely related genetically to the "chinese" living in the south. The cantonese speaking "chinese" of the south are more closely related to vietnamese. Also if history was different and korea and vietnam did not gain independence and were still part of some chinese empire, are these same people then referred to as "chinese"???
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