Of course Persians and Pakistanis are Asians, since they live in Asia. The term ‘Asian’ appears to me to be a geographic term, not a racial one.
I can’t speak for the UK, but here in the English-speaking USA, we tend to think of Persians and Chinese as different races. (The various systems of classification differ on Pakistanis.)
You will often hear ‘Asian’ instead of ‘East Asian’ for the race that Chinese belong to. I would criticise this as a poor way to use the word. In any case, anybody who thinks that Persians and Chinese are the same race since both live in Asia is probably just being confused by this usage; nobody believes that in the English-speaking USA (neglecting people who only classify into their own group and everybody else and people who refuse to classify at all).
Of course Persians and Pakistanis are Asians, since they live in Asia. The term ‘Asian’ appears to me to be a geographic term, not a racial one.
I can’t speak for the UK, but here in the English-speaking USA, we tend to think of Persians and Chinese as different races. (The various systems of classification differ on Pakistanis.)
You will often hear ‘Asian’ instead of ‘East Asian’ for the race that Chinese belong to. I would criticise this as a poor way to use the word. In any case, anybody who thinks that Persians and Chinese are the same race since both live in Asia is probably just being confused by this usage; nobody believes that in the English-speaking USA (neglecting people who only classify into their own group and everybody else and people who refuse to classify at all).