The Eastern Coalition, also known as the ECON, was an alliance of Asian states on Earth in the early 21st century
The coalition was founded by Lee Kuan, comprised in large part of nations formerly united under the Great Khanate of Khan Noonien Singh during the late 20th century, leading up to the events of the Eugenics Wars. (TLE novel: The Sundered; ST short story: "The Immortality Blues")
Prior to 2020, the Eastern Coalition had beaten the United States back to the moon, which Shaun Christopher saw as a major motivation for the USS Lewis & Clark to make the first manned voyage to Saturn. (TOS novel: The Rings of Time)
In 2031, the Eastern Coalition was amongst those groups which pooled its resources to help divert the orbits of a number of asteroids threatening to impact with the planet, threatening all life in Earth. (Last Unicorn RPG module: All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook)
The Eastern Coalition was a major rival to the United States and the European Union (both political blocs being the primary powers behind the New United Nations). In the 2030s and the 2040s, relations between the rivals continued to degenerate. This led to the outbreak of World War III on 1 May 2053. (TLE novel: The Sundered; TNG movie: Star Trek: First Contact; ST - Strange New Worlds 9 short story: "The Immortality Blues").
The Eastern Coalition states were amongst those hardest hit; cities such as Karachi and New Delhi were damaged when nuclear weapons detonated over them. (TLE novel: The Sundered) As late as 2079, many societies were still mired in lawlessness and chaos as a result of the Post-Atomic Horror. (TNG episodes: "Encounter at Farpoint", "All Good Things...")
Eastern Coalition members included India, China, Pakistan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, and Singapore. (TLE novel: The Sundered; ST - Strange New Worlds 9 short story: "The Immortality Blues")
- The exact nature and composition of the Eastern Coalition remains unknown. The unity of action and identity associated with the Eastern Coalition in Star Trek: First Contact implies that the Coalition possessed the power of a de jure state rather than a mere alliance; alliances do sometimes supplant the power of their member states' governments. Exactly what sequence of events could lead traditional rivals India and Pakistan to assume membership in a common organization is unknown, though there remains the possibility of conquest by the nearby People's Republic of China. Chinese domination of the Eastern Coalition seems likely, given the real-life rise in global power of the PRC.
- The organization which has real-world significance to the Eastern Coalition is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization whose members include China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Mongolia, and Afghanistan.
- In the audio commentary for the DVD version of Star Trek: First Contact, Brannon Braga reveals that all references to the ECON were originally supposed to be China, but the ECON was invented for the film at a later time.
- The Last Unicorn Games RPG book All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook gives the ECON's founding as being in 2055 as result of the conquering of "much of Eurasia".
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- Eastern Coalition article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.