Introduction: Anti-Asian racism was a feature of the social response to the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impact on the wellbeing of Asian communities warrants closer examination. The current study aimed to gauge the extent to which sense of belonging mitigates the adverse effects of racism on life satisfaction for Asian communities in Aotearoa New Zealand.   Methods: This analysis included 1,341 responses to a cross-sectional online survey conducted in 2021. Descriptive analyses outlined how components of sense of belonging are distributed among participants, key subgroups and those who experienced racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Linear regression was used to examine the role of sense of belonging in mediating the association between experiencing racism and since-COVID life satisfaction. Findings: In this survey, four out of ten  participants reported experiencing racism in the first eighteen months of the pandemic. Overall, respondents’ life satisfaction decreased slightly since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak (p=0.00). Experiencing racism was associated with a 0.49 unit decrease in since-COVID life satisfaction. (95% CI -0.61 - -0.38). All the components of sense of belonging reduced the magnitude of this association, in particular,  feeling comfortable expressing one’s own ethnic identity (-0.19, 95% CI-0.29 - -0.09 ) and belonging in New Zealand (-0.18, 95% CI -0.28 - -0.08). Conclusions: When considering racism as a determinant of wellbeing for minoritised ethnic communities, particularly in times of heightened social tensions such as a global pandemic, strategies to strengthen sense of belonging through thoughtful communications and responsive services may contribute to mitigating the harm of racism. These actions should be included alongside anti-racism initiatives in pandemic and other emergency response planning to support the wellbeing of these communities.