This is getting silly:
I wasn't trying to be silly. The statement looked to be overly PC to me.
When I was at university, one letter to the editor in the school rag complained that a picture of a sampling of the student body did not show enough "diversity" because it did not show any Asians of the type that one would see in Iran. Since, to me, "Asian" is a description of race, not geographical origin, such a statement reeks of racism--as in, this Iranian letter writer is so infused with anti-white hatred that she cannot bear to admit that she is caucasian, and must identify herself with Asians (i.e. Chinese, Filipinos, etc.) instead.
I will now admit the possibility that Brits may mean "Asian" as a statement of geographical origin, not race, much the same way I would use "European."