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Asian-Pacific American (APA) or Asian-Pacific Islander (API) is a term sometimes used in the United States to include both Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans.

The U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs defined Asian-Pacific Islander as "A person with origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, or the Pacific Islands. This area includes, for example, China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Samoa; and in South Asia, includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan." A definition from Henry Ford Health System states that an Asian-Pacific American is "A U.S. citizen whose origins are from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines, Samoa, Fiji, Guam, the U.S. Trust Territories of the Pacific or the Northern Marianas.

Asian or Pacific Islander was an option to indicate race and ethnicity in the United States Censuses in the 1990 and 2000 Census as well as in several Census Bureau studies in between, including Current Population Surveys reports and updates between 1994 and 2002. A 1997 Office of Management and Budget directive separated the "Asian or Pacific Islander" racial category into two categories: "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander." Following this change, he U.S. Census Bureau defined Asian as "a person having origins in the in any of the original people of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam." The U.S. Census Bureau defined Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander as "a person having origins in any of the original people of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands."

Representative Patsy Mink declaring the formation of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

The term is used in reference to Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week, the first ten days of May, established in 1978 by a joint resolution in United States Congress. The commemorative week was expanded to a month (Asian Pacific American Heritage Month) by Congress in 1992. The month of May was chosen to celebrate the emigration of the first Japanese Americans on May 7, 1843, and to honor the Chinese immigrants who contributed to the transcontinental railroad which was completed on May 10, 1896.

The term is also used by several state boards and commissions, including in Washington, Michigan, Maryland, and Connecticut. The term is also used in the names of several non-profit groups, such as the A|P|A History Collective, Center for Asian Pacific American Women, Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, and National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development. Asian Pacific Americans are listed as a group on the United States Army website.

Creation of the term

Previous to the 1960s, the only term used to refer to Americans with ancestry in Asia was "orientals." The pan-racial identity Asian American was created in the 1960s. After watching the black Civil Rights Movement, Chinese American, Filipino American, and Japanese American college students in the San Francisco Bay Area were concerned with the living conditions in primarily Asian American residential areas. Asian American college students also fought for the inclusion of their stories in college curriculum. The death of Chinese American, Vincent Chin, in 1982, furthered the pan-racial movement for Asian American rights. Vincent Chin's death brought awareness of shared struggles between the various pan-ethnic Asian American groups. In the 1980s, the term Asian Pacific American began to be used in Asian American Studies and Asian American pan-racial social movements. Scholars believed that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders had shared experiences with colonialism and had been connected historically through trade and cultures.

Controversies about the term

The term Asian Pacific Islander has been controversial in academia. Scholars, such as Stacy Nguyen, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui, and Lisa Kahaleole Hall have argued that Asian American should be separate from Pacific Islander. Pacific Islanders experience a different set of struggles than Asian Americans. While Asian Americans suffer from immigration issues, Pacific Islanders are fighting for decolonization and sovereignty. The term Asian Pacific Islander often focuses on issues facing the Asian American community while ignoring issues facing the Pacific Islander community.

In "Remapping a Theoretical Space for Hawaiian Women and Indigenous Women," Hall argues that Asian Pacific Islander movements, as well as mainstream feminist movements, have failed to address issues specific to just Pacific Islanders. Pacific Islanders face a different set of struggles than Asian Americans when it comes to land sovereignty and colonization. These struggles have not been included in APA discourses. The term further perpetuates the lack of accurate information about Pacific Islander communities.

In "Where are Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders in Higher Education?" Kaunanui argues the term has prevented Pacific Islanders at higher institutions from receiving economic and social resources at higher institutions. Higher institutions address the racial oppression that Asian Americans face, such as the "whiz kid" stereotypes, but fail to address that Pacific Islanders are stereotyped as lazy and not hard-working. Kaunanui continues to argue higher institutions should specifically target "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander" students in recruitment efforts because the students of that category are underrepresented in higher institutions. In order to target "Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander" students, the term Pacific Islander should be separated from the term Asian.

Lucy Hu argues Pacific Islanders and Asian Americans face a completely different set of racial and economic issues. The term Asian Pacific Islander, or Asian-Pacific American erases the struggles Pacific Islanders face separately from Asian Americans. While the Asian American community has a higher medium annual income than the national average, many Pacific Islanders are living below the poverty line. Pacific Islanders are much more educationally disadvantaged than Asian Americans.

Other scholars believe that Asian Pacific Islander movements should include both Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In "Pan-Pacific Identity: A Skeptical Asian American Response," Young argues that Pacific Islanders experience a different set of struggles than Asian Americans, but are ultimately racialized by society in the same ways, such as being seen as "foreigners." She believes that the term Pan-Pacific should continue to be used, but should be more inclusive of Pacific Islanders in social movements. Pan-pacific movements should include the decolonization of the Pacific Islands in its platforms.

In "Whither the Asian American Coalition," Spickard argues that the histories and of both Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are linked. Colonization in the Pacific Islands is not a reason to separate the term API. He asserts that colonization has occurred in many Asian nations, such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and Japan, as well. He writes that Asian Americans cannot be separated from Pacific Islanders based on cultural differences. Many Asian nations have nothing in common culturally and many Pacific Islands have nothing in common culturally. Spickard continues to argue that the issues facing Middle Eastern Asian American communities, multiracial Asian American communities, and adoptees from Asia has not been included by Asian Pacific American discourses, either. What all of these groups have in common is struggles with colonialism, orientalism, and racial hierarchies. Asian Pacific American movements should work to include the struggles facing all groups under the pan-racial umbrella of Asian Pacific American.