Listening to an Iranian official describe his region as “West Asia” got me wondering if the word “Middle East” is on the outs and why. I suspect Middle East is eurocentric for some reason, but West Asia also preserves Europe as a continent, which is Eurocentric in its own way because Europe is not a continent and never was. If we’re calling anything West Asia, it should be Spain and Portugal.
The prime meridian runs through western Europe. Most of Europe would be in the near East, relative to that point. China is on the far east of the hemisphere. They are fair labels based on their position to the prime meridian.