East Asian Federation

The Federation of East Asian Corporate States, commonly referred to as the East Asian Federation or East Asia, is a Corporate Democracy in Eastern Asia.

History
After World War II, East Asia was ravaged. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Allied Powers agreed on the condition of not occupying Imperial Japanese territory if the Empire agreed to reform itself into a modern democracy. The Japanese agreed, and Korea was made an independent nation, and Manchuria was returned to the People's Republic of China. However, in late December 1945, the governments of Japan and the new Republic of Korea agreed to attempt to create a unified economic zone to try to rebound their war-ravaged nations. The East Asian Unity Zone removed trade barriers between the two countries, and their economies flourished, paving the way for the rise of mega-corporations, such as Samsung and Mitsubishi.

In 1969, the East Asian Unity Zone agreed to create a single currency to be used inside of the zone, and to allow free travel inside of the zone. The new currency, called the New Yen further unified the zone, allowing the nations' economies to become more unitary. As corporations enjoyed unparalleled influence in the two nations' legislatures, in 1976, the two nations agreed to merge and form the East Asian Federation, an experiment in democracy in which Corporations handle the governing and upkeep of the state.

Since the formation of the Federation, the national economy has continued to grow relatively undaunted.

2010
In 2010, one of the Federation's allies, the Grand Yarphese Republic sparked an international outrage by invading the Falkland Islands and starting the 2010 Yarphese War. The East Asian Federation's constituent corporations have come under fire recently for supplying the Vietnamese Liberation Army as per pre-war trade contracts. In February 2010, the Federation joined the Organization of Independent States, a economic, military, and diplomatic alliance in Asia. Towards the end of February, ten counties of Taiwan joined the East Asian Federation.

Main Article: Korean War

In early March, the Federation experienced a small internal rebellion in the northwestern Hamgyong provinces. Led by the Korean Workers' Party, this movement managed to capture a portion of land and demanded independence from the Federation.

Government
For details on the most recent election in the Federation, see EAF 2010 general elections.

The East Asian Federation is a single-member district Corporate Democracy. Kumiko Akimoto is the current Chief Executive, a role she serves concurrently with Chief Executive of the Hyasoda Group. In addition to the Chief Executive, the Executive branch of the Federation includes the Chief Legislative Officer, who serves as president of the Federation Board, the Chief Operations Officer, who oversees the executive bureaucracy and staff, and the State Officers, who each run a different part of the Executive branch, from Defense to Trade.

The Federation's legislature is the Federation Board, which consists of 75 seats, one per each prefecture of the Federation. When the Fourth Amendment to the Federation Constitution was passed in January 2010, the legislative system was changed to One Member per legislative district. Voters in a prefecture now vote for a single representative to the Federation Board chosen by a corporation. The corporation who wins general legislative elections in that district provides public services to the citizens of that district. The new system is designed to increase competition between the corporations to improve the quality of services provided. There are currently seven corporations with seats on the Federation Board.

The Judicial system of the East Asian Federation is more traditional in the fact that it is not directly controlled by the current corporation in plurality. Judges are appointed by the current Chief Executive, and are entitled to their position for life or until retirement.

Administrative Divisions
Main Article: Administrative Divisions of the East Asian Federation

The East Asian Federation has a total of eighty five prefectures, divided into four regions, Northern Korea, Southern Korea, Japanese Islands, and Northern Taiwan.

Demographics
The East Asian Federation's population is 199,815,392. Approximately 62 percent of the population is Japanese, 36 percent Korean, with the rest being of other ethnicities.

Economy
The East Asian Federation is Asia's largest economy, due to its extreme levels of economic development and high standard of living. After its formation, the country embarked on a rapid industrialization effort, leading to its establishment as the world's second largest economy in the mid-1980s. The Federation enjoys bilateral trading preference with the Grand Yarphese Republic through the Asian Free Trade Agreement, which eases almost all trade restrictions between the two member states. This has further fueled the economic growth in the region. The Federation's economy is heavily based on the export of consumer electronics to other developed nations. The current corporation with a majority on the Federation Board, the Hyasoda Group, dominates the domestic market. There are no taxes in the Federation. Instead of paying taxes, citizens pay for all essential services a la carte, or can choose to prepay by setting aside a portion of their corporate paycheck. Through this system, citizens only pay for public services they use. Corporations set prices for the services they provide, based on market demand.

The Asian Free Trade Agreement has, however, caused great levels of dependence on Yarphei for raw materials and agricultural products. Much of the Federation's land is not suitable for Agriculture, and while the Federation has implemented Yarphese-styled vertical farms in the Southern Korea region, much of its food is imported.

The Federation's currency is the East Asian New Yen. Theoretically, the currency is backed by the State Treasury's precious metals stores, but in reality, as an electronic currency, little of the yen's value is based on actual goods.

Domestic Market
Tertiary and Quaternary sector economic activities, such as information technology and services, dominate the East Asian Federation's economy, making up a total of 72 percent of the nation's GDP.

Exports
Exports are a large factor of the Federation's economic success in recent times. Automobile and Consumer Electronics manufacturing are the pillars of Secondary sector economic activities, and have been since the nation's founding. Total annual exports amount to around 980 billion yen. In the past decade, Defense technology have slowly risen to the third most common export, with Federation-made aircraft and missiles popular in many developing countries.

Imports
Compared to Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary sector economic activities, Primary sector activities such as farming and livestock herding contribute an extremely small part of the Federation's economy. Due to the mountainous terrains of the Japanese Islands and North Taiwan, those regions are not suitable to agricultural development. And due to the rapid urbanization of the Korean Peninsula, much land is unavailable for agriculture. As a result, corporations have embraced Yarphese vertical agriculture as a means of bridging the nation's relatively large food gap.

Environment
The Federation is an environmentally-friendly nation. Mitsubishi Electric, one of the world's largest producers of photovoltaic cells, operates several solar farms throughout the Federation. Hyasoda Electric operates the Federation's only Fusion Power Plants, operating a total of ten, which provide 75% of total power supply in the Federation. Corporate production and dense urban population creates a large amount of waste, all of which is recycled, thanks to the advent of Nanopaste. All major cities in the Federation have urban anti-congestion surcharge zones, which charge drivers entering city cores a standardized 1800¥ to encourage transit use.

Military and Foreign Relations
The East Asian Federation's military is limited by the National Constitution, which severely limits the use of military force in settling international disputes. The Federation's military is controlled by the State Defense Office, and primarily consists of the Federation Air Forces (FAF), the Sea Self-Defense Force (FSSDF) and the Federation Land Self-Defense Force (FLSDF). All but the Air Forces are generally restricted to defense operations inside of national borders, but small amounts of Self-Defense Force personnel have been deployed to international peacekeeping missions, and the 2003 War in Iraq.

The Federation is one of the two member states of the Asian Free Trade Agreement. Hwang Sung-Ra, a citizen of the Federation, is Secretary-General of the Free Trade Zone. The Federation is also a member of the Organization of Independent States, the Amerozone, and the Eurozone.

Grand Yarphese Republic
Despite political differences, the Federation is extremely close to Yarphei. In the face of what it sees as indifference from Western superpowers such as the Union of Everett and the Allied States of America, the Federation has actively sought out to develop close ties with its up and coming neighbor on the mainland. The Republic is a common member of the Organization of Independent States.

Northern and Southern People's Republic of China
The Federation's relations with the two China are strained because Chinese imports are taxed heavily and are usually seen to be inferior by citizens. The People's Republics' relations with the Federation have deteriorated even further since the Northern Half of the Republic of China, the territory of which South China claims, voted to join the East Asian Federation. China's slow embrace of the free market may thaw relations in the coming years, however. The People's Republics are common members of the Organization of Independent States.

United States of America
Despite negative relations following the Second World War, the East Asian Federation has come to rely on the United States in several crucial moments during its development and has thus retained extremely close ties with the United States Government.

Allied States of America
As with the government of the United States, the East Asian Federation is on good terms with the Allied States of America. There have been certain international incidents that have temporarily strained relations between the two nations, but overall, relations are good.

Union of Everett
The Federation sees the Union of Everett as a model economy and as with the other American nations is quite friendly with Everett. Disputes over specifics in systems of democracy initially caused diplomatic tension, but over time, things have thawed.

4chanistan
Although at times the leadership of 4chanistan is seen as immature on the international stage, the people and government of the East Asian Federation embrace 4chanistan and hope to capitalize on the populace of the island's love of certain elements of Asian culture by providing special tourist provisions for anons wishing to travel to Federation.

Sovereign Communicative Order of Sino-Korea
For the entire period of its existence, the Federation has recognized the SCOSK as a sovereign nation, and has allowed any original Federation nationals currently residing there the benefit of dual citizenship.

United Kingdom of Eastern European Duchies
The Federation is on relatively good terms with the UKEED's government. However, many private citizens and foreign relations analysts question the stability of the Balkan region's many ethnic groups, remembering conflict in the late 20th century.