[EliRivers]

Speaking as someone from the UK, when I say "Asian" I mean East Asian, and when I mean someone from South Asia, I name the specific nationality.

For example, I generally wouldn't refer to someone from India as "Asian".

[toasterlovin]

FWIW, all the UK coverage of the grooming gang scandals refers to the perpetrators as Asian (they are mostly South Asian, and definitely not East Asian).