In the context of the era of economic globalization, opening up the country's doors, connecting with each other, and promoting the prosperity of its own economy and trade has become the consensus of most countries in the world.
However, to this day, there are still some countries in that maintain a "closed-down" state, giving people from the outside world a hint of mysterious color.
So, what is the reason why countries choose to "close the country" and not communicate with the outside world? Are they really as poor as people imagine?
Today, this episode will take stock of: countries in the world that are still closed to the public.
is adjacent to China and located in South Asia, Bhutan . It is a famous country in the world that is "closed to the country". To this day, Bhutan is not an official member of the International Trade Organization.
The towering Himalayas is one of the important reasons for Bhutan's "close-off country". , the world's highest mountain, blocks the land trade channel connecting Bhutan to the north and my country . The extremely high altitude and the violent turbulence in the sky make air transport trade between the two countries very difficult. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, pilots from China and the United States opened the " Hump Route " to transport air supplies, passing over Bhutan.
(Himalaya)
And the southern part of Bhutan is adjacent to India's land territory: this means that Bhutan is a completely landlocked country. If the country wants to conduct overseas trade, it must pass through the Indian border, and use the Indian port to transport goods, which is another considerable fee for Bhutan.
Therefore, instead of racking your brains to give India a "toll" and doing a loss-making business in overseas trade, it is better to close your door and rely on the domestic production and consumption cycle to develop the economy.
(Bhutanese)
Bhutan’s economic structure is mainly agriculture, and the country mainly produces rice, corn and wheat. The cash crops are Bodhi tree , which is loved by Buddhists. If you have the opportunity and walk in the villages of Bhutan, you will find that the people here really live a life of "a small country but few people" proposed by the ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi , "not interacting with each other when they are old and die."
But it is undeniable that in a closed environment, Bhutan's economy is relatively backward, and is recognized by United Nations as one of the "most underdeveloped" countries in the world. The domestic transportation of Bhutan is mainly yak , mules and horses. Trains, buses and other means of transportation that are transported remotely need to rely on the assistance of China and India. Among them, the power supply system in Bhutan is fully supported by India.
However, economic underdevelopment does not mean that Bhutanese think they are not happy. In 2014, the United Nations proposed a new concept of development. This concept of development is not based on GDP, but on the happiness felt by the people themselves. In this " Global Happiness Index Report ", Bhutan ranks more than 90, which is a central position in the international market.
If Bhutan is forced to "close the country" because of natural force majeure. Then the next two countries were isolated by the world because of "man-made disasters".
The first country isolated by the world because of "man-made disasters" is Libya located in North Africa .
(Libyan Civil War)
Libya's history of "close-off" can be traced back to the last century: in 1969, Gaddafi led free officer organization and overthrew the Kingdom of Libya. With the support of the Soviet Union, Libya established the so-called "socialist" country, and the economy of the country is mainly based on foreign oil exports. At this time, Libya was considered a relatively wealthy country in North Africa.
However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Libya gradually lost an important source of foreign economic resources and the national economy gradually declined. plus Libya under Gaddafi's leadership swaying between the West and Russia, ultimately making Libya an "orphan" in international diplomacy.
(Libyan dictator Gaddafi)
As the domestic economic situation in Libya gradually deteriorated, in 201, a civil war broke out in Libya that voted against overthrow the Gaddafi regime. French, the United States and other NATO countries also participated in the military operation.
However, after Gaddafi was defeated and died, differences arose within the Libyan opposition government, and the two sides ignited the second civil war in 14. In this way, Libya fell into a state of warlord separatism. In various countries, including China, began to evacuate overseas Chinese and withdraw funds one after another. In this way, a large number of overseas investments were lost from Libya, making Libya's economy gradually disconnected from the outside world.
(Libyan Civil War)
The melee between warlords in various Libyan parties lasted for six years, until the second Libyan Civil War in 2020 ended. However, at this time, Libya was already a country full of holes: not only did there be almost no overseas investment in China, but even the embassies of various countries still had no time to rebuild this land that was in ruins.
In Libya during Gaddafi's rule, he tried to join the World Trade Organization , but with the outbreak of the Libyan civil war, this application was forced to freeze halfway. So far, Libya remains an observer state for the World Trade Organization.
(Libyan evacuation operation)
Today, it is still difficult to see news about Libya in international news. This country that has just emerged from the shadow of the civil war has a long way to go in the process of integrating into the international community in the future.
A country with similar situations in Libya as is South Sudan , which is also a country located in Africa.
South Sudan is perhaps the youngest country in the world recognized by the United Nations. In 2011, South Sudan was independent from Sudan , and established a new country, and after that it was recognized by many countries around the world.
(Streets of South Sudan)
However, South Sudan's independence is also a road full of smoke and war. In 1955 and 1983, two civil wars broke out between the north and south armed forces of the sultanate , and each civil war lasted for nearly 20 years, causing tens of thousands of casualties in Africa.
To avoid the occurrence of humanitarian disasters, South Sudan was independent from the Sudan in 2011 with the support of the United Nations. For the Sultan, whose 20th century history is half of the history of the civil war, the north and the south are at peace with each other, perhaps the choice that can best take care of the people on both sides.
(South Sudanese people)
However, the cost of "separation" means that everything must be pushed back. After leaving Sudan, South Sudan began to establish its own administrative, diplomatic and economic systems one after another. However, in the process of South Sudan's internal affairs reconstruction, there were also famines and wars in the country, which seriously affected the process of Sudan's reconstruction of the state machine.
Today, South Sudan has not submitted an application for WTO to the World Trade Organization, and its original home country, the sultanate, has submitted an application to WTO , but is still not a formal member state.
(Sudan Civil War)
It is undeniable that, overall, Sudan, which is preparing to join the WTO, has a current economy that is better than South Sudan. I wonder if the South Sudanese people who were firmly separated from Sudan at that time would regret their original choice today?
In addition to the internal human factors of their own country, there are also countries that are forced to be in a relatively closed state because of their diplomatic environment. Iran and North Korea may be a pair of examples.
Let’s talk about Iran first: Before the 1970s, Iran’s Pahlavi dynasty was a relatively open country. The king of the Pahlavi dynasty vigorously developed oil export trade and carried out reforms at home based on the economic and political systems of Britain and the United States as samples.
(Iran's Pahlavi Dynasty)
However, the secular reform of the Pahlavi Dynasty was strongly opposed by domestic religious traditional factions, and Khomeini was the leader of the religious traditional forces in Iran at that time. In 1977, Khomeini led the people in the country to launch the "Islamic Revolution", overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty, and began to establish a theocratic republic in Iran.
Khomeini's "Islamic Revolution" led by Khomeini in Iran touched the interests of Britain and the United States. This is because during the Pahlavi dynasty, the king transferred most of Iran's oil trade to Britain and the United States, while Khomeini promoted comprehensive nationalization of in Iran's oil industry. In retaliation, Britain and the United States provoked an Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s and began a long economic blockade on Iran.
(Iran Islamic Revolution)
Faced with the possibility of Britain and the United States interfering in Iran, Iran under Khomeini vigorously developed its military industry and began to build nuclear facilities, trying to develop atomic energy weapons, which triggered the " Iran nuclear issue " in Central Asia. As Iran is committed to researching nuclear weapons, Western countries have become more stringent in economic and trade restrictions on Iran. To this day, the Iran nuclear issue has not been fundamentally resolved.
However, Iran is also trying to break the deadlock for its economic difficulties, such as conducting oil and military trade with countries such as Russia, China and India. In May 2012, Iran began to try to use the RMB to settle oil trade. Perhaps in the future, Iran will be able to rely on its own unique development path to find a new way to break the deadlock.
(Iranian oil extraction platform)
is similar to Iran's situation and is North Korea adjacent to our country. In June 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States and other Western countries imposed various restrictions on North Korea's overseas trade. However, due to its backing to China and the Soviet Union, North Korea established a mature and complete industrial system in the 1950s and 1960s with the unremitting efforts of its own people and the assistance of the people of China and the Soviet Union.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, North Korea's economic development gradually declined. At the same time, in the context of the great era of global economic and trade development, North Korea is not willing to give up its planned economic system and "military policy". Most countries' economic expenditures have been bet on military industrial construction, and national investment in civil and foreign trade is relatively limited.
(Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea)
In addition, in the 1990s, North Korea was also committed to developing nuclear weapon , and successfully tried to explode atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb at the beginning of this century. The United Nations has imposed various restrictions on North Korea's foreign trade because North Korea violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement. As the five permanent members of the United Nations, our country respects the decision of the United Nations, but in terms of restricting North Korea's foreign trade, our country holds reservations and is committed to a peaceful solution to the North Korean nuclear issue.
However, North Korea does not seem to care about the various restrictions of the external environment. To this day, North Korea has never submitted a "WTO application" to the World Trade Organization. , like North Korea, has never submitted an application for accession to the WTO, and there are also countries such as Turkmenistan, , South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia .
A country moves from closure to openness is a historic process. In addition to the above countries, several countries have also experienced a closed history, but in recent years, they have also opened their doors and began to try foreign trade:
For example, the island country Cuba , after the normalization of US-Cutralia relations, Cuba announced "opening up to the outside world". In 1995, Cuba became a new member of the World Trade Organization. Today, Cuba uses tourism, sugar exports and medical care as the "three pillars" to drive the economy. In 2019, Cuba's GDP reached 103.1 billion US dollars. Far beyond Puerto Rico , Dominican and other neighboring countries.
(Cuban scenery)
Looking at these relatively closed and independent countries in the world, the reason why they choose to close their national doors is because they are in nature, diplomacy and internal affairs. Perhaps, relying on internal circular development and driving the economy is a rational choice for them. But it is undeniable that open development is the general trend of world history. In the context of economic globalization, only by opening up the country’s doors can the country’s economy be prosperous and the people’s lives are happy and healthy.
