They like the words ‘convenient’ and ‘comfortable’ even more!
I think the problem is that these noun alternatives don’t exist for “Chinese”, “Japanese”, “Taiwanese”, etc.
Well, they do for the first two at least (I can think of at least three), but they became offensive at some point.
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Lol. I hear you. They don’t exist for French either 
I’d say ‘A French ______’, similarly I’d say ‘a Taiwanese ______’ leaving out the noun to my ear would sound odd.
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Oh, they do. 
But there’s “Frenchman” too, which I believe still isn’t regarded as offensive (yet).
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Well thats like “French _____” without the space. Whereas for ‘China ____’ you need to be David Bowie to get away with it because otherwise its ‘Chinese _____’ 
In cricket we used to bowl a Chinaman. It’s now a googly.
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Doesn’t seem like they would roll very well. And anyways, how did you get them to agree!?
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Supposedly the term originated in Yorkshire, so getting anyone to agree would be a challenge.
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Wrong. I’m from there, and you’re wrong. 
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Oh! That should be some snark about public officials and C19.
Forumosa would not be the same without it. 
Guy
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So we’re discussing this, right?
Guy
Geoff Boycott for pope!
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I would not be surprised if there is a curated English word list jealously guarded in an atmosphere-controlled encasement.
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A Brit
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In the quotes below, boldface was added by me.
–The U.S.-Taiwan-China Relationship in International Law and Policy - Lung-chu Chen - Google Books
–Journey Through the White Terror: A Daughter's Memoir - Kang-i Sun Chang - Google Books
–Contesting 'Good' Governance: Crosscultural Perspectives on Representation ... - Google Books
–A World History of Chinese Literature - Google Books
–European Perspectives on Taiwan - Google Books
–Taiwan Under Japanese Colonial Rule, 1895-1945: History, Culture, Memory - Google Books
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One of many reasons 
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Because English sometimes uses different forms for the adjective and the noun, sometimes not. The correct noun for an English person is ‘an Englishman/Englishwoman’ (one word.)
A Frenchman/Frenchwoman
Separate nouns for people from a country tend to be dying out in favour of just using the adjective
A Briton
A Scot
A Swede
A Finn
A Dane
A Spaniard
A Pole
More used now is “He/She is British/Scottish/Swedish etc.”
In most usages the noun form is the same
An American
A Russian
And in nationalities ending in ‘ese’
A Japanese
A Chinese
A Taiwanese
A Javanese
The old form for Japanese was Nipponese or Nipponer; the term ‘Jap’ was used as an insult, so ‘a Japanese’ sounds awkward- is it derogatory or not?
The original form of ‘a Chinese’ was ‘a Chinaman’. (Try to explain to somebody learning English in China that the direct translation of Zhongguoren is an insult in English.) That’s why it sounds awkward: when ‘Chinaman’ became politically incorrect, ‘a Chinese’ was not there to replace it.
‘A Taiwanese’ was not used often, and again sounds awkward. Though correct, you tend to reach for the adjectival form.
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Yeah, a good example of how language evolves, especially a widespread language like English that doesn’t have an official academy keeping a stranglehold on its usage.
After living here for some years, ‘a Taiwanese’ doesn’t sound strange to my ears anymore, while ‘an Irish’ definitely does. Hell, even ‘Let’s café’ barely gets a reaction out of me anymore.
The phrase ‘a gay/the gays’ has been making the rounds. It runs the gamut of being ignorant, insulting, or humorous. I’m in favor of its use as a count noun, but then the issue of capitalization is sure to come up. Or, ‘the gays’ may die a slow PC death as did ‘the Orientals.’
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I, personally, never use “a Taiwanese” as a noun, for various reasons. However, I feel it’s up to the individual.
At least three competing (occasionally overlapping) paradigms are used to identify someone as a Taiwanese person: nationalist criteria, self-identification (including the concept of "[New Taiwanese]) criteria and socio-cultural criteria.
As for other examples:
This reminds me of Little Britain.
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“-ese”, “-ish”, “-ch” denonyms = uncountable, which is why there are often special demonyms for those people like Brit, Swede, Spaniard, Turk, Pole etc. etc. etc. There used to be one for Japanese people but that word is now a slur.
“-ian”, '-an", “-er”, “-i”, “-ite” denonyms = countable
That’s how I view it.
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