asian is bad wording. this is a japanese startup backed by khosla ventures. japan is an ally of west.
the title makes it sound like a chinese company did this.
Are you from UK perhaps? Because UK is the only place I know where "asian" also includes India and Pakistan. Everywhere else India is sort of separate entity and always mentioned separately.
You don't get out much? (in alpha) Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle-East (sorry, that's a western term) all include west Asia in the definition.
I'm from Europe and never hear indians clumped together with chinese as "asian". When speaking of geography, then yes, but that's about it. It's always "Indian startup", never "Asian startup" for example. Indian food, not Asian food etc. YMMV
The UK is part of Europe despite leaving the EU (which is of course not equivalent to "Europe").
In the UK it is common for the British to refer to both Pakistanis and Indians as Asian and not uncommon for the Chinese to be lumped in the Asian category as an umbrella term (and also to highlight someone or some company as being specifically Chinese).
I guess it really comes down to habits in particular parts of Europe and which parts of Europe you travel in.
Is that really the most sailent facet of this story? Boxing it by official friend vs foe designations? Don't american academic institutions and corporate entities cooperate closely with Chinese companies as well?
The US and China are in a cold war right now, whether that is fully recognized or not, the fight has already begun. The US is blocking models from getting out of the country and China is blocking researchers from getting out of the country. The expectation should be only more closing off in the future.
We are all people. This ally-of-the-west framing is propaganda. Who has harmed me more: this US or China? Who do I have more in common with: a tech worker in China or a US government official?
(I'm based in US - I use the best tech for the task).