Every SINGLE time I have seen someone from the US refer to Asian, here and other forums they are meaning Chinese, etc. And the majority of the people in these forums who refer to themselves as being Asian are Chinese, etc...
In the UK you are NOT known as Asian....but referred to as simply Chinese, Japanese, etc. The Mid Easterners and Indians are Asian to us.
No I don't make f**king generalisations at all!! I speak as I find and see with my eyes. I have yet to see someone from over there refer to an Asian and mean a Middle Easterner from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, etc.