Normally it is preferred by citizens of the Pan-Asiatic States to fly local state flags in public administration buildings and public spaces since no legislation mandates the explicit usage of the Oriental Standard except in the case of foreign embassies. When possible, however, the Oriental Standard is flown side-by-side with the local state flag. Still, the Oriental Standard is typically flown only when there is a presence of or to signify the federal government as a whole such as during federal addresses, military occasions, historical commemorative ceremonies, sports games or similar competitions where a team or contingent represents the Pan-Asiatic States as a whole, and international summits.

A striped version of the Pan-Asian flag, one of Ryuk Ho-Jin's early designs

The design itself dates as far back as the 18th and 19th centuries, with many anti-Western intellectuals across East Asia using variations of yin and yang flags. Some Yìhéquán (Boxers) that partook in Siege of the International Legations during the Peking Rebellion are noted by academics as having used yin and yang flags to emphasize a cultural distinction between themselves and the Western colonial powers. Japanese Pan-Asian writers also sometimes used a yin and yang symbol to denote a Pan-Asiatic identity in various publications during the 1920s. Another minor yet notable usage of the yin and yang pattern in a flag was by the Wha-Chi Division, a unit of Filipino-Chinese anti-Japanese communist guerillas that fought in the Philipppines during the Second World War. However the Taegeukgi, a flag historically used by the Kingdom of Korea during the 1800s, was perhaps the most notable adaptation of a yin and yang pattern in a state flag up until the Pan-Asiatic States although its use was neither official, nor widespread, nor standardized.

When the Mutual Assistance Bloc was established in 1976 and the first notions of the possibility of a centralized Pan-Asiatic form of government was in the public discourse an unofficial call for designs of a Pan-Asiatic flag was published by the sixth working group of the Committee on Pan-Asiatic Cultural Exchange Conference. It was published in newspapers throughout communist nations in the Far East.

Ryuk Ho-Jin, a socialist realism artist and collective farmer of the People's Republic of Korea was working in Seoul when the announcement came out; he wanted to create a flag design to express his patriotic enthusiasm for the newfound Pan-Asiatic cooperative union. In the middle of December that same year, he sat down in his attic over the course of several weeks to come up with designs. His inspiration for the colors of the current design came mainly from how he wanted to represent the Pan-Asian dream as a star in the night sky—a symbol that all peoples of Eastern civilization could share in looking up to in spite of the darkness that various historical difficulties such as colonialism, imperialism, and ethnic divisions have posed to their unity.

Ryuk's design gained traction slowly but was eventually adapted unofficially in various forms by associations and organizations that promoted Pan-Asianism and lobbied for the creation of a Pan-Asian federation. When the Mutual Assistance Congress began drafting the Constitution of the Pan-Asiatic Peoples in early 1992 they also began looking for countries that would recognize Pan-Asian sovereignty in foreign affairs, the most major of which was the Soviet Union. Out of 24 other designs which were nominated by the Congress based on unofficial surveys, Ryuk Ho-Jin's Oriental Standard was chosen as the flag which would be flown in the Pan-Asiatic States' embassies due to having garnered 71% of the delegates' votes. Its usage in this case eventually led to its wide acceptance by a majority of the public as the primary symbol that represented the Pan-Asiatic States as a country, and was adopted by the federal government thereafter.

The colors of the Pan-Asiatic flag utilize a white #FFFFFF for the sun, a black #000000 for the field, a yellow #DAA520, and a plain red #FF0000 for the yin and yang.

Black and White

The black-and-white on the Pan-Asiatic flag represents the transparency of the state with its people. This is in sharp contrast with the white-red-and-blue standards used by Western Republics, and the palette use of the black-and-white is an act of rebellion and a reminder of secession from what Pan-Asianists consider to be farce, bourgeois republics.

Furthermore, the use of black-and-white aesthetic represents the core value of Pan-Asianism; the Theory of Orientalism. Orientalism, on account of both the writings of Edward Said and the early Pan-Asian ideologues (even modern Jucheists); classifies the world into nations which oppress and the nations which have been oppressed. This calls for a transparent categorization based on a sharp dialectical analysis of the occident and the orient. The heavy use of black represents, not only the dark ages of Pan-Asiatic history, but the ideal of a region that has been outcast by modern history rising up against its oppressors.

The clean usage of white is also an old Asian cultural symbol of cleanliness of mind, conservatism, and morality. The white is also sometimes interpreted as being representative of the sanctity of revolution, and the riddance of the Pan-Asiatic States of what it considers 'unhealthy' to society (revisionism, globalism, despotism).

In essence, the use of black represents race and class struggle—the Pan-Asian ideology coming out of the darkness of many centuries of oppression by the Western powers. The two colors contrasting each other represent the continual promulgation of truth, transparency, and justice through the Pan-Asiatic States.

Yellow

Yellow represents the cultural liberation of Asians across the world. Yellow is a respected color that was widely used throughout the Southeast Asian region as well as the East Asian region. For example, the Bruneian peoples are acquainted to the use of a plain yellow standard, whilst in China and Korea, it is a representation of affluence and royalty. However, the yellow, rather than representing monarchic yellow, is cast upon symbols of the worker's revolution; symbolizing the 'Every Man a King' mentality which Pan-Asianism inherently harbors. Scholars of the Pan-Asiatic States often utilize this color to put-forward federal authority as a strong and independent authority, as the cultural icons of old were, but with a people-first prevalence.

In other words, a dialectical approach to authority is taken through this irony; wherein the Pan-Asiatic States is revered as both a continuation of sovereign cultural prominence (as an antithesis to Western cultural prominence) led by a mass line of the Pan-Asiatic people. The power is no longer bestowed upon a single despot or a set of oligarchs, but rather, the people themselves; who are all equally, and individually, a powerful collective with the same prowess of a monarch—with the same voice, prosperity, and power through the collective.

Red

The red of the Pan-Asiatic States is a reminder of the Marxist roots of the Pan-Asiatic system. Whilst steps have been undertaken by modern ideologues to fit socialist ideological aspirations into the callings of the era towards the betterment of the overall society, masses are reminded that in all undertakings, a strong Marxist basis must be upheld; in both government and individual action.

The red utilized is a reminder too of the worldwide proletariat, and that Asia, as the Orient of the proletariat; must aid the common proletariat before serving other needs of the state. It is a historic reminder of the struggle daunted by the heroes of the working-class all across the world, which is the basis of political power too, in the Pan-Asiatic States.

The Yin and Yang

The principle of Yin and Yang is that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example, female-male, dark-light and old-young. The principle, dating from the 3rd century BCE or even earlier, is a fundamental concept in Chinese philosophy and culture in general. In Taoist metaphysics, distinctions between Nice and Bad along with other dichotomous moral judgments, are perceptual, not real; so, the duality of yin and yang is an indivisible whole. In the ethics of Confucianism on the other hand, most notably in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu (c. 2nd century BC), a moral dimension is attached to the idea of yin and yang.

The choice of the Yin and Yang as the primary symbol for the Pan-Asiatic revolution lies in the primary idea that all Asian cultures generally hold this culture of reflective morality to be valued among all else, and that it is a common trait among the Asian philosophies that reflective morality should be held a standard for emulation above all else.

Several variants of the Oriental Standard exist, but the most prominent one is colloquially referred to as the "José Maria Sison version" due to its association with Tagalog Soviet Socialist Republic statesman José Maria Sison and his National Democracy Movement. This variation of the Oriental Standard is a combination of the 8-pronged Philippine sun with the Juche version of the hammer-and-sickle which features a torch in the middle. It is a controversial flag that embodies the internationalist-versus-nationalist communist dichotomy that exists in the Pan-Asiatic States, although a variant that does not feature the Juche insignia remains popular with many Tagalogs today.

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels did not clarify the difference between state and law, focusing on class divisions within nations. They argued that nation and law (as it existed then) would be overthrown and replaced by proletarian rule. This was the mainstream view of Soviet theoreticians during the 1920s; however, with Trotsky eventually assuming the leadership of the USSR the idea became open to attack. Many also criticized Nikolai Bukharin's position that the proletariat was hostile to the inclinations of the state, arguing that since the state (the Soviet Union in this case) was in transition from capitalism to socialism the relationship between the state and the proletariat was harmonious.

One prominent Soviet statesman who actively lobbied for this was Josef Stalin, who argued that the state would still exist if the Soviet Union reached the communist mode of production if the socialist world was encircled by capitalist forces. This line of thinking was further refined by the founder of the People's Republic of Korea, Kim Il-Sung and embodied by the Workers' Party of Korea as an ideology called Juche up until its merger with the Asian Communist Party. Juche adopted an insignia emphasizing the need for the state (represented by the torch) to continue existing even after communism had been established.

In the 1990s some members of the Asian Communist Party took this position to its logical conclusion, arguing that the state would exist after the Pan-Asiatic States reached the communist mode of production until a future world revolution. As long as capitalism survived, even if the socialist world succeeded in establishing global hegemony, the Pan-Asiatic States could still be threatened by the restoration of capitalism. Juche ideology then started becoming adopted by various political groups throughout the Pan-Asiatic States into various nationalist sub-ideologies, a growth in popularity sparked by local disagreements with the predominantly internationalist Federal Congress of Soviets at the time.

Juche was interpreted by José Maria Sison of the National Democracy Movement in the Tagalog Soviet Socialist Republic around this time as an ideology whose phenomenological dialectics could provide a basis for opposition against Pan-Asian unification and later on to advocate heavy reform of the Pan-Asiatic States to provide more operative freedoms for members of its federation.

Though the flag that his movement used was briefly tarnished by the initial stance of Sison's group, the legitimate reasons for their detraction were sentiments that most Asians were capable of giving the benefit of the doubt. It still decorates some buildings and is used by a few armed forces units in the Pan-Asiatic States, specifically those with ties rooted in the Tagalog Soviet Socialist Republic. Its prevalence is fueled by a controlled amount of influence that National Democrats have over both the Congress of Soviets and the local Tagalog state legislature.