Taiwanese American

Taiwanese American

Taiwanese Americans (traditional Chinese: 台灣裔美國人) are American citizens of Taiwanese descent.

Americans born in Taiwan whose ancestors immigrated to Taiwan are called Taiwanese Americans. Whether Taiwanese Americans should be considered Chinese Americans is a subject of some controversy. The majority of Taiwanese and supporters of Taiwan independence often object to classification of Taiwanese Americans as Chinese Americans and overseas Chinese, while advocates of Chinese reunification often object if Taiwanese Americans are not included in these groups. The controversy over the inclusion or exclusion of Taiwanese Americans as Chinese has extended to the name of the government bureau of Taiwan handling Taiwanese Americans affairs which was controversially changed in 2006 from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission to the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission.

Demographic research tends to include immigrants from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese who have immigrated from Southeast Asia into the broadly-defined Chinese American category as both the governments of the Republic of China and the United States account for Taiwanese Americans as a subgroup of Chinese Americans.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of people that consider themselves Taiwanese live in the state of California. New York and Texas have the second and third largest Taiwanese American populations, respectively.