Ruth Lee, a Chinese-American woman, flying the flag of China while at the beach to avoid being mistaken for Japanese, Miami, USA, WW2, December 15, 1941
Funny(?) enough, efforts by Chinese-Americans to differentiate themselves from Japanese-Americans to the racist majority of the US were largely successful during WW2.
As for the rest, the US actively supported China while the Japanese were invading. Doolittle's Raid, for example, overflew the Japanese islands, dropped some bombs, and then landed in China, because they wouldn't have had enough fuel to turn around and go home. China was essentially an ally in WWII.
This seems wild to me. So they seem some guy using chopsticks and they're like "git him, oh wait hold on...raw fish: Japanese, fried rice: Chinese. Wait what did Ruth say about noodles... Flat noodle, Chinese foodle, noodles in broth or round, go get that clown."
The absurdity of racism is all the more exposed when what an arbitrary social construct it is is highlighted. Throw the Japanese-Americans in internment camps and forbid them from serving the military with white people - but praise Chinese-Americans as allies against Imperialism(tm) and let them serve as officers in non-segregated units with white folk.
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's great that WW2-era white America got over its anti-Chinese racism for ten seconds, but it would have been a nice bonus had it not been just another extension of racism's arbitrary nature.