This study examines racism “denial” in Asia through a critical discourse analysis of state reports submitted to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) by 16 Asian countries from 1978 to 2023. Our findings reveal that denial is not just a rhetorical tool for deflecting accusations but functions as a deeply embedded mechanism to justify and reinforce existing discrimination. Importantly, these state discourses are shaped by social, political, and religious values, as well as struggles for national liberation, unity, and security. By unpacking these layers in historically and comparatively informed ways, we identify and classify patterns of discursive denial—literal, interpretive, and ideological—with subcategories for each. This study not only adds to empirical inquiry into racism in often-neglected Asian contexts but also presents a conceptual framework for examining the diverse manifestations and articulations of race and racism, extending beyond the explanatory capacity of existing dominant theories of race developed through Western lenses.

This paper is an outcome of the "Nationalism and Racism" research track at the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab.