At present, there are 197 countries in the world, and most of them have certain tendencies and positions, which are opposite to specific countries.
But there are also a few countries that remain absolutely neutral and never interfere with international political struggles. These countries have the special status of " permanent neutral country " and maintain a neutral policy during wartime and non-wartime.
There have been 7 permanent neutral countries around the world, 5 of which are located in Europe, 1 in Asia, and 1 in Latin America. These countries enjoy many privileges while fulfilling their obligations as neutral countries .
1, Switzerland
Switzerland is the world's first permanent neutral country, and it is also the only permanent neutral country clearly stipulated in the International Law.
Switzerland is located in central Europe and is one of the richest countries. Switzerland's stable development has a great relationship with its decisive and permanent neutrality.
In history, Switzerland was ruled by the Roman Empire , and then fell into division and chaos. The major families continued to fight for territory and money.
But endless divisions only bring about decline and weakness, so some powerful states launched a united unity, hoping to jointly establish a unified kingdom.
At the end of the 13th century, Uri, Schwitz and Lower Walden formed an alliance. Although this covenant clearly put forward the goal of establishing a new country, it was never achieved under the suppression of the dynasty and the Roman Empire.
Until the seventeenth century, France and Sweden defeated the Roman Empire, and Switzerland was able to get rid of the Roman Empire and truly achieve independence.
1798, Napoleon invaded Switzerland, which was fiercely resisted by Switzerland. After five years of war, the French army was finally expelled and continued to expand.
Until 1815, Switzerland participated in the Vienna Conference , and determined that Switzerland implemented a policy of permanent neutrality, did not participate in any international disputes, and maintained a permanent neutral status.
After Switzerland became a permanent neutral country, it has maintained this identity and has not been involved in the two world wars. Due to Switzerland’s special identity, many international organizations will be headquartered in Switzerland to demonstrate their impartial attitude.
Switzerland's second largest city Geneva holds nearly 3,500 international conferences every year, and international representatives from all over the world carry out diplomacy in this neutral and peaceful land.
The Swiss flag is a square red background and a white cross flag, symbolizing peace, justice and light. The original design was a horizontal rectangle, but later changed to a square, to demonstrate an absolutely neutral attitude and spirit.
Thanks to the neutral policy, Switzerland's free trade and foreign trade are very developed, driving the industry of the entire country. It has always been known as the "City of Watches" and is praised as the "Heart of Europe".
Although Switzerland has maintained a relatively conservative and absolute neutral position for 200 years, some changes have also occurred in recent years under the pressure of many European allies.
For example, in February 2022, Switzerland announced a plan to impose sanctions on Russia. Perhaps in the future, Switzerland will integrate more into the national community and gradually deviate from the original neutral principle.
2. Austria
Austria borders Switzerland, and is also located in central Europe.
Austria declared a permanent neutral country more than a hundred years later than Switzerland. It did not achieve independence and rebirth until World War II ended. Before that, it had also launched many wars as an invading country.
Vienna is one of the most famous cities in Austria. The Vienna Conference held here in 1815 was actually a meeting to re-dividate territory that European countries participated in after Napoleon's defeat.
At this meeting, Switzerland obtained permanent neutrality and established Austria's qualification to lead German Confederacy .
Austria's power was unprecedentedly powerful, and its ambitions expanded accordingly, and it started a war with Prussia . But Austria was defeated in this war, and the German Confederacy was disbanded.
Austria did not stop here, but joined hands with Hungary to establish Austria-Hungarian Empire . The Austro-Hungarian Empire was very powerful at that time, second only to Russia, and belonged to the Allies in the Battle of , .
However, in World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was unable to gain an advantage for a long time, resulting in internal differences and eventually disintegration. After
returned to its original form, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in World War II , and it was not until 1955 that it regained independence.
After nearly a hundred years of hard work, Austria finally accepted his fate, dispelled its original ambition of expansion and aggression, and soon after its independence, it was declared a permanent neutral country.
From then on, Austria, as a neutral country, began to develop industry, mainly engaged in steel machinery, automobile manufacturing and other industries, and its economy was very developed.
Relying on a peaceful and neutral position, beautiful natural and cultural environment, Austria's tourism industry has developed rapidly, and later became the pillar of the country's economy, accounting for about 69% of the total GDP.
Overall, Austria currently implements a peaceful and neutral policy to the outside world based on EU , but does not show much tendency. Austria used his experience to tell the world a truth: compared to war, peace is the real medicine to promote development and progress.
III. Sweden
Sweden did not officially announce its decision to become a permanent neutral country, but it once remained neutral in two world wars. It has always been regarded as a permanent neutral country after the war and has always pursued a neutral policy.
In the 11th and 12th centuries AD, Sweden gradually formed an independent country. At that time, Sweden was a clear stream among many countries that were keen on colonial expansion, and placed commercial trade in a more important position.
But at that time it was because Sweden was a loose kingdom and the provinces were relatively independent. After forming a unified and powerful royal power, Sweden embarked on the road of war.
By the sixteenth century, Sweden had already been the military overlord of Nordic and had strong power. He even defeated the Roman Empire in union with France, gained a large tract of territory, and reached its peak.
But at the beginning of the 18th century, Russia joined forces with Denmark and Poland to launch a war against Sweden. Sweden gradually fell into a disadvantage, lost a large area of territory, lost its status as a military power, and gradually declined.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Sweden, unwilling to fail, joined the Napoleonic Wars , and stopped after receiving the surrender of Norwegian .
Another hundred years have passed in a blink of an eye. In 1905, Norway gained independence. After two hundred years of twists and turns, Sweden ended up in a waste and began the road to neutrality.
A once ambitious country suppressed its restlessness and stood by the side in both world wars. After the war, Sweden was regarded as a permanent neutral country, which continued until recently.
Why do you say so? Is Sweden no longer a permanent neutral country?
Yes. As early as 1995, Sweden joined the EU, but the EU is a political and economic integration organization and will not affect Sweden's neutral status.
Until June 2022, Sweden joined the North Atlantic Convention , namely " NATO ". Compared with the EU, NATO is an international military group organization with a clear position.
Sweden joined NATO, and naturally lost its identity as a permanent neutral country. In the years of maintaining a neutral identity, Sweden's economy has made great progress and people's livelihood society has also made great improvements. It is one of the countries with the highest happiness index in the world.
But after joining NATO and leaving neutrality, Sweden's future has become blurred. I wonder if Sweden will regret leaving its permanent neutrality status in a hundred years?
4. Finland
Finland is a good friend of Sweden. He joined NATO together in June 2022 and has also lost his identity as a permanent neutral country.
Finland has long been the country with the highest happiness index in the world. The country has a developed economy, a very high standard of living, and a clear-headed government.It was once a part of Sweden, with the same spirit and similar ideas.
In the sixteenth century, Finland also gained independence.
However, at that time, Sweden, Denmark and other countries fought a long war, and Finland, which was involved, suffered from war for a long time, and it was difficult to get rid of it.
Since the beginning of the 17th century, Finland has begun to implement reforms to transform its original agricultural countries into war powers, but the price behind this is the heavier and heavier taxes.
A large number of farmers and militia were transformed into soldiers, causing agriculture to stop. Meanwhile, Finland experienced an ice age, with the cold climate destroying crops and causing the worst famine in Finnish history.
In just three years, one-third of the Finnish population lost their lives in famine. With food shortage and insufficient population, Finnish army no longer had its glory as before and was defeated by Russia.
After Finland and Sweden were defeated, Finland separated from Sweden and became a principality of Russia. This identity lasted until the October Revolution in 1917 overthrew the Tsarist rule, and Finland was able to become independent. After
independence, Finland became a permanent neutral country. In addition to civil wars and wars to expel foreign forces at home and abroad, it has always maintained a neutral identity.
Once a part of Sweden, and later became a Russian autonomous grand priest for a hundred years. Finland should have cherished the hard-won independence and peace and maintained a neutral identity for a long time.
However, from 1917 to 2022, just a hundred years later, Finland joined NATO. NATO launched and participated in many wars after World War II, killing more than 1 million people and generating more than 10 million refugees.
Finland and Sweden join NATO, which is the largest expansion of NATO in the past 60 years and will bring huge changes to the world. For Finland, its decision to join NATO is also profoundly changing itself while changing the world.
5. Ireland
Ireland is located in western Europe Ireland . As early as more than 7,000 years ago, some hunters accidentally set foot on this land and then settled. civilization slowly advances in reproduction and war, and several small countries gradually formed in the island of Ireland.
From the twelfth century, Britain began to invade the Ireland Island and ruled the Ireland Island after nearly 400 years of war.
At that time, the unity was achieved in the form of the British king serving as the King of Ireland, so many residents of Ireland have always opposed British rule.
However, Britain has been eroding Ireland's sovereignty and independence, and in 1801, it incorporated Kingdom of Ireland into the UK. was originally assimilated by the British, and even if there was an independent voice in the Kingdom of Ireland, it would not be too strong.
However, in 1845, a severe famine occurred in Ireland. The British government, as the ruler, did not provide substantial help to Ireland, even though the government could import food from the Americas at that time.
famine caused Ireland to lose about 25% of its population in just one year. The cruelty and selfishness of the British government aroused strong dissatisfaction in the Kingdom of Ireland and began its own path to independence.
After a long struggle, Ireland and the United Kingdom signed an agreement in 1921 to allow 26 counties in the southern part of Ireland to establish Irish free state , and 6 counties in the northern part still belong to the United Kingdom, which is the current Northern Ireland .
After more than 100 years of struggle, Ireland has lost a large amount of population and land, but it has finally become an independent and neutral country, achieving a peaceful development environment, and now it has a developed economy and harmonious people's livelihood.
Irish loves peace and pursues neutrality, but the Irish government once provided an airport to the US military in 2003 as its military base in Europe.
This move aroused strong dissatisfaction among the people, but resistance was of no use. Although at present, there is nothing in Ireland that undermines its neutral nature besides this move.
VI, Costa Rica
Costa Rica became a permanent neutral country later, and was officially announced in 1983, less than 40 years ago. Although is located in Latin America, Costa Rica has a developed economy and a high standard of living, and has always been known as " Central America Switzerland ".
Since the discovery of Costa Rica during the 16th century Columbus voyage, Spanish colonists have invaded the land many times. Indigenous Indian 's resistance failed to prevent Spanish troops and became a Spanish colony in 1563.
However, the long-term war caused the Indian indigenous people to become almost extinct. Those colonists who dreamed of making money and traveled across the ocean had no targets for a moment, so they had to farm on their own.
Until the early 19th century, Latin America launched a passionate independence movement, and Costa Rica also declared independence in 1921 and established Republic of Costa Rica in 1948. Although it has achieved independence, Costa Rica has suffered heavy destruction and blows in its long history of colonial rule, and is extremely backward and poor.
At the beginning of independence, Costa Rica relied on coffee exports to maintain its economy. Later, the United States controlled the rights of railways and banana cultivation and export of Costa Rica, which caused huge losses to Costa Rica.
At that time, US capital monopolized the economic lifelines such as banana plantations and directly controlled the Costa Rican government.
Workers established a brand new party in the long-term resistance movement, overthrew the dictatorship, and at the same time changed the economic structure of Costa Rica and weakened their dependence on the United States, so that national independence was guaranteed.
In 1983, Costa Rica announced it to be a permanent neutral country. Costa Rica has a unique constitution: no military is set up, and internal security is maintained by setting up police and security forces.
's unique situation allows Costa Rica to feel at ease in economic development. The outward-oriented economy, including electronic components, crop exports and tourism, has become a train to promote development, and in just a few decades it has become a new economically developed country.
7, Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is the only permanently independent country in Asia. Although it is neighbors with Iran , Afghanistan and other countries, it maintains valuable peace.
Turkmenistan was once a part of the Soviet Union and did not leave the Soviet Union until 1990 and was officially independent. In 1995, Turkmenistan declared it a permanent neutral country.
For a long time, Turkmenistan, as the supplier of agricultural raw materials for the Soviet Union, was in the position of a "tool man". When left the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan's economic structure was also very single because of this period of history.
If there were not a large amount of oil, natural gas, resources to be exported, Turkmenistan would be a very poor and backward country. However, with these resources as support, Turkmenistan was able to carry out economic reforms and gradually transformed to a more advanced industrial structure.
In order to ensure its neutrality, Turkmenistan has always been a "lonely man": governments and civil groups only participate in some regional organizational activities; they have also withdrawn from many international organizations that have joined, such as Independent States Consortium ; even foreign magazines and books are not allowed to be brought into the country.
Neutrality is extremely unique to Turkmenistan. One of the iconic buildings in Turkmenistan is called the Neutral Gate. Although the neutrality of
is conservative, it is also an effective means.
It is precisely because of the strict adherence to the neutral policy that Turkmenistan was able to maintain a peaceful and stable society in the war-torn Central Asia, and establish good relations with all countries. It is very appropriate to describe Turkmenistan as "protective".
Turkmenistan, Finland and Sweden were once permanently neutral countries, but they embarked on completely different paths. may join some organizations with distinct tendencies out of compromise and helplessness and pursue short-term benefits, but in the long run, the losses will inevitably be greater.
summary
The seven permanent neutral countries in the world are actually not completely "neutral". They also have their own small abacus and biased positions.
With Sweden's separation from Finland, there are only five permanent neutral countries left, and it is difficult to determine whether more permanent neutral countries will give up this position in the future. For the world, losing a permanent neutral country also means more variables.
In fact, for a country, the most important thing is not the identity of a "permanent neutral country", but the spirit of loving peace and maintaining peace. Because the former can be separated at any time, the latter will become a force that passes on from generation to generation.
What the world needs most is not more "permanent neutral countries", but every country can actively make practical efforts to resist war and promote peaceful development, and jointly push the international community to a higher level.
reference source
1, how to view the pros and cons of Xu Jin's permanent neutral country "VIP" 2015
2, the ambassadors of 30 countries to NATO have signed the agreement between Sweden and Finland to join NATO 2022-07-26
3, the desert land of Kumenistan's permanent neutral country's survival and Gate of Hell " Global Human Geography ", 2020
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