AHC: A Less Balkanized Asia

Alright, this is intended to be my last thread on similar premise, after its African and European counterparts, as IIRC someone else has done the North and South American versions.

So, with POD no earlier than 1453, make present day Asia consists of seven until ten independent nations.
Below is how "Asia" is defined in this thread:

Off the top of my head:

~ Ottoman Empire; guided carefully by Abdul Pasha to control all of Arabia, Iran, large chunks of the Caucasus and Central Asia (in addition to Balkan, Medi and probably substantial African holdings).
~ Russian Empire; controls whatever they can wrestle out of the super-Ottomans. Let's just say parts of northern Kazakhstan, some of the Northern Caucasus, Siberia and Far East Asia.
~ Afghanistan; TTL's version of the Durand Line most early and ethnically cohesive. Short-term frustration for the British, long-term boon against tribal politics for...
~ India; no partition (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal either integrated early on or muscled into some sort of federation. Bhutan can be a protectorate with either no army or a poor military force. Burma also attached, and only kept through Indian government keeping the various tribes and ethnicities constantly fighting amongst themselves. Perhaps Upper Burma heavily influenced by Super China.
~ Thai Empire; controlling all of Laos, Cambodia and what is now Central and Southern Vietnam (populated by mix of Vietnamese, Cambodians and Champa ittl).
~ China; almost all of historical China. Outer Mongolia, Outer Manchuria, parts of Kyrgystan, Southern Tibet. Northern Vietnam a very restless set of provinces who've fought and lost several independence wars.
~ Indonesia; all of Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei.
~ Philippines; all of OTL Philippines.
~ Japanese Empire; all of Japan, Kurils, Sakhalin, Ryukyus and Taiwan.
~ United Korea; though it could be absorbed by Japan and there'd still be room.

PoD could probably happen sometime around the earliest period of English colonization of India and whenever decolonization comes around, less successful pro-Muslim movements and control over Burma given to Federation (never split apart, even though it makes sense). Have the French out-maneuver the English and take Thailand rather then settle with breaking pieces of it off, an earlier Meiji, a China with some competent emperors who try to pull the same thing and let the Ottowankers sing their praise and behold- this.

Would not want to live in this world though.

Here's a rough outline of what the map might look like (Afghan/Kazakh/Ottoman borders not "real' but whatever, I made it in like 5 minutes). Included only the areas indicated by OP.

Why would you not want to live in this world?

The enlarged Ottomans would keep a firm boot on the necks of the Wahabis, no Partition means no constant Indo-Pakistani wars, and united Korea means (barring being united by the Communists and still going nuts) nothing resembling North Korea.

Barring a giant war between two or more mega-empires, it'd probably be a more peaceful place.

Here is my go, I managed to get 11 nations. It might seem a bit ASB but it's the bestcould do. I had something that would have made historical sense but that had about 15 nations!

POD: WW2 and the negotiations afterwards, cold war and Indian Independence negotiations

People's Republic of China: Mao stayed a little sane and therefore China is a lot stronger. Japan also wasn't as fanatical and the Nationalists failed a lot earlier. Tibet was annexed as OTL. The Korean War started as OTL but the USA was less interested in defending it, therefore the Chinese and North Koreans were able to get a more favourable peace. Mongolia was annexed due to a friendly regime, but it almost caused nuclear war with USSR, but calmer heads diffused the situation. The USSR and China are arch enemies. Becoming more liberal and has started its opening up but only started that in 2008. Nuclear Power.

Indian Union: The British managed to convince the leaders of the Hindus and Muslims to share power rather than dividing the country. Burma was added to provide another significant minority. Nepal and Bhutan were annexed in the destruction of the princely states. Indian union annexed Goa etc as OTL. Afghanistan was annexed after it invaded India under USSR persuasion. It has managed to keep its minorities from each other’s throats by providing almost everyone with jobs through capitalist growth and creating a culture of unity that bases itself on the ancient empires of India. It is fiercely secular and no Muslim/Hindu/Buddhist/Sikh political parties are allowed. There have been several rebellions mainly in OTL Pakistan but they were defeated but not in a way that made them martyrs. Has been governed by a Jain Prime Ministers since 1975 and they have managed to get support from all religious backgrounds.
Indian Union is much more pro-USA and capitalist than OTL Cold War India. Member of the Commonwealth, Observer of "POCO" (see below), Nuclear Power.

USSR: Basically Pre-1989 OTL territory but with Finland as a Warsaw Pact nation. Little bit more capitalist (think 1990's China) The Cold War has become cooler and is starting to wind down. With the PRC the USA and USSR both had two enemies to hate and therefore concentrated less on each other. Living standards are much better in Central Asia/Caucasus higher in Russia/Ukraine but lower than in the OTL Baltics. Nuclear power

The Arab Union (Arabia): Seeing that they could become a playground for the big powers, the Arab Union was formed from the countries of Trans-Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt in 1948. This eventually came closer and closer that in 1955 they joined to together in one country. It became a quite rich and stable state. It also fostered a culture that Arabs are all one people and should be united to stand up for themselves and not allow themselves to be occupied by Western nations again or be played along by the big powers. This was very attractive, the Iraqi army overthrew the King in 1958 and they were united with the rest of the Arab Union in 1960.
The Saudi royal house was much more ruthless than OTL and was overthrown in 1959. The Saudi people demanded that they join the Arab Union and in 1961. After the British withdrew from the Persian Gulf in 1971, Bahrain, Qatar and Trucial States joined (they were allowed to keep their sultans.) Iran often causes problems for the Arab Union and has fought wars with the Arab Union in 1961-1963, 1971-1972 and 1995-1996 which have all been stalemates more or less. Officially Neutral but a bit more PRC than USSR and USA.

USSEAR (United Socialist South East Asian Republics): Union of communist republics that fell during the "Worker's Liberation Wave" where communist parts of the armies (funded by Moscow) overthrew the local governments. It started in Union of Indo-China (Evacuated by the French peacefully and didn't divide itself) and then spread to Malaya and Siam. Siam fell very quickly as did Continental Malaya. However the communist uprising was defeated in Sarawak. However, 3 days afterwards Indonesia invaded Sarawak and Brunei and annexed them (supported by USA, India and NATO) the union united in 1980. It has fought a small border war with PRC in 1981 and India in 1999.

Union of Korea and Japan. After the Korean War, South Korea was devastated and fearing a new invasion from the newly powerful PRC or USSR. With not much land and most of its population refugees, they pleaded for help. The USA decided to push it joining a loose union with Japan so that each could support each other and could provide a big powerful defence against the communists. The Union was formed in 1958 although it was initially very unpopular, the border war in 1959 against PRC showed that South Korea needed Japan and the Japan couldn't afford for South Korea to fall. It is still very rich, but not as rich as today. Lots and lots and lots of Americans are based there and it has an agreement that the Prime Minister should rotate between Korea and Japan. The Emperor only has status in Japan and has never visited Korea. They can declare war and are a Nuclear power. Part of "POCO"

Federation of Aden & Oman: Part of the original "Federation of The Gulf and Aden" a nation set up by the British when they left the region. However Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Trucial States left. The remaining states carried on the Federation. Good relations with Arabian Union but not going to join it, pro-American and part of the Commonwealth.

Persia: Like today, but the Shah never overthrown. Pro-USA, India, very anti-Arab Union. Been accused of starting rebellions amongst the Arab Union's Shiite minority but don't admit it. India is its best friend. Turned into a European style Parliamentary Democracy after the revolution of 1978 failed.

Indonesia: Like OTL but with Sarawak and East Timor. Part of "POCO" or Pacific Ocean Co-operation Organisation. Still had Suharto but he died earlier. Now a newly rich economy becoming one of the factories of the world. Faces independence movements in Brunei, Sarawak, West Papua and Atech, a Community insurgency in Borneo and Christian demands for their own region in the Eastern Islands. Jakarta is an international finance centre.

Philippines: Like today but under the brutal dictator of Renato Binay. Very Pro-US and has defeated its communist rebellion in the south in 2010. Quite rich but suffers from underemployment and some of the Islands are being ignored while Renato home Island gets all the best things. Was a coup in 2009 but it was defeated. Part of "POCO"

Turkey: As OTL, very anti-USSR and quite anti- PRC. Its best ally in Asia is Persia but hasn't joined in the Persian's wars against Arab Union. Dislikes the Arab Union mainly for the rumour that they are giving money to the revolting Kurds. Still secular. No Turkish invasion of Cyprus, has applied to the EU but is still a candidate country. Part of NATO.

POCO or Pacific Ocean Co-operation Organisation
That started as a development organisation by the US but has evolved into a defence organisation. Members are USA, Canada, UKJ, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. India, Brazil, Britain, France and West Germany are observers.

Where did that nation go?
Singapore: Never existed, never seeded from Malaya
Israel: Never existed, no Zionism, no Balfour Declaration. There are some Jews in OTL Israel in the Arab Union state of Israel, based in Haifa. Most Jews fled to Britain or USA more Jews remain all over the world.
Taiwan: Nationalists never fled there but fled to a city on the mainland where they were destroyed. Taiwan given to PRC by the occupying Americans after the nationalists were destroyed.

The last thing modern Asia is is Balkanized. India and China alone are multiethnic, multicultural states, and both are far from being alone.

Well, there'd be a lot more insurgencies (like Upper Burmese, Vietnamese and possibly Baloch) in India and China, but my immediate thoughts were that because there's these massive empires in Asia with few small powers to proxy with you would end up with warmongering on both sides. But the devil's in the details- it could be set up to be perfectly hegemonic on both sides so that no one really has any incentive to do something rash.

As the descendent of a Hindu Sindhi I certainly would prefer it if India/Pakistan never split- but then again, I wouldn't have been born so .

MerryPrankster said:

Why would you not want to live in this world?

The enlarged Ottomans would keep a firm boot on the necks of the Wahabis, no Partition means no constant Indo-Pakistani wars, and united Korea means (barring being united by the Communists and still going nuts) nothing resembling North Korea.

Barring a giant war between two or more mega-empires, it'd probably be a more peaceful place.

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