The Third Republic of DutchFormosa is a mammoth, genial nation, ruled by President Nicolaus Schwartz with a fair hand, and notable for its museums and concert halls, complete lack of prisons, and keen interest in outer space. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful population of 7.217 billion Formosans are free to do what they want with their own bodies, and vote for whomever they like in elections; if they go into business, however, they are regulated to within an inch of their lives.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked, socially-minded morass — juggles the competing demands of Welfare, Education, and Administration. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Zeelandia. The income tax rate is 100%.

The frighteningly efficient Formosan economy, worth a remarkable 1,346 trillion Guilders a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector, which is highly specialized, is led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Book Publishing and Tourism. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 186,608 Guilders, and distributed extremely evenly, with practically no difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The acceptance of acupuncture and other alternative therapies has needled the scientific community, fewer people are bathing as citizens must show ration stamps before they can turn on their faucets, major cities shut down as their local sports team takes to the field every day, and foreign casinos have trouble paying fans who bet on the triumph of the Zeelandia Sika Deer against long odds. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. DutchFormosa's national animal is the Sika deer, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its national religion is Dutch Reformed Church.

DutchFormosa is ranked 307,780^th in the world and 60^th in Timoria for Fattest Citizens, with 1.14 Obesity Rate.