Because in Chinese eyes there are only two countries in the world: China and 'not China'. For that same reason all the people from the country 'not China' have the same nationality of 'Laowei'. If one 'Laowei' causes trouble all 'Laowei's' cause trouble. All those who look Chinese but are actually 'Laowei' are just regarded as retard Chinese people or Chinese of a lower status. Once it is clarified that the person in question is Filipino or Korean the Chinese people will go on stand-by for a while. If you look closely enough you can see the little red light. Once the shock of an non-Chinese Asian is accepted the process is completed by a reboot which takes them back to treating them as second class Chinese citizens. The real 'Laowei' only speaks English and if it is found that there is one who speaks another language or doesn't know English at all, this is another time a forced reboot will occur, resetting the Chinese mind and putting them back in their English speaking 'Laowei' category or the category of retard 'Laowei' which they will find hilarious, "How can a 'Laowei' not speak 'Laoweiesian'?" . The Chinese in general will all be forced to stand-by if they hear the name of a country on TV. This is because they don't know different countries. The stand-by process will once again reboot them when someone makes the comment, "Ah, Laowei". The existence of the non-Chinese and non-Laowei threatens all previous ideas and known facts of a Chinese person. The fact that there is more than China and Laoweiland out there, is more than they can take and too much information will force them, yes you guessed it......
to reboot.

I don't want to sound completely narrow minded but the average person here isn't taught to see each country as an individual country (sure they know some of the main ones) but it's the idea that it is China and the rest of the world. Middle Kingdom or Bust mentality. It's one method used to promote nationalism for the country. So with that, taking the time to clarify nationality of a laowai is just a waste of time and counter-productive.

I would say most countries are not saying who is who when a crime is committed, because their stupid multi-cultural laws are not working. One thing I can say I feel a lot safer in China than my stuffed up country

In america they clarify the nationalities. accurate reporting (in that case anyway) the only situation where they may not disclose the nationality is when it is in reference to a victim.

I prefer not to know the nationality, just give me a picture and a name. That person nationality is irrelevent from what criminality they did. Because the person did it, not the country.

Why nationality bothers u?
U didn't do that, what ever Laowai did is not ur problem.