Switzerland’s neutrality has been recognised in international law since 1815. It means refraining from participating in armed conflicts, military alliances, and not favouring any warring party.
If New Zealand was to take a similar stance it might shield us from being drawn into far away conflicts that don’t pose a direct threats which could save lives, and money.
It might enable the country to be an international mediator and bridge-builder, like Switzerland.
It might allow us to continue to trade with a variety of other countries, regardless of which side they might be on in a conflict.
However, against those positive mights are some serious risks.
New Zealand is geographically isolated but deeply interconnected. Our current foreign policy leans towards upholding the international rules-based order for security and trade.
Neutrality would weaken our ability to stand with like-minded nations against aggression or threats to global stability.
We have established defence and intelligence partnerships, which would be strained by a shift to neutrality and that could leave us more vulnerable.
Underspending on defence for years has been justified by in part by the absence of imminent threats and by the thought our allies would come to our aid should tht be needed. Those allies could be forgiven for questioning why they should help us if we were no longer working with them.
Neutrality might open new trade opportunities but that could be more than offset by alienating existing trading partners if we pulled out of alliances with them.
Switzerland’s neutrality is backed up by a very strong ability to defend itself. It would almost certainly be far more expensive for New Zealand to build that sort of capability than to work with allies.
Switzerland’s neutrality is also helped by its position in Europe. It is land-locked and surrounded by neighbours who would almost certainly come to its aid should another country attack it for fear the aggressor wouldn’t stop at the Swiss border.
New Zealand is an isolated group of islands, which would be very unlikely to be used as a foothold for attacking any other country.
Australia is our only neighbour with serious military capability. If an aggressor ignored our neutrality, would it, or any of our current allies, come to our defence?
The USA’s ability to fly to Iran, drop bombs, and return home show distance from an aggressor is no longer protective.
In increasingly turbulent times, we need to be prepared to defend ourselves and our ability to do that would be greater if we had allies, than if we stood alone,
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
It might enable the country to be an international mediator and bridge-builder, like Switzerland.
It might allow us to continue to trade with a variety of other countries, regardless of which side they might be on in a conflict.
However, against those positive mights are some serious risks.
New Zealand is geographically isolated but deeply interconnected. Our current foreign policy leans towards upholding the international rules-based order for security and trade.
Neutrality would weaken our ability to stand with like-minded nations against aggression or threats to global stability.
We have established defence and intelligence partnerships, which would be strained by a shift to neutrality and that could leave us more vulnerable.
Underspending on defence for years has been justified by in part by the absence of imminent threats and by the thought our allies would come to our aid should tht be needed. Those allies could be forgiven for questioning why they should help us if we were no longer working with them.
Neutrality might open new trade opportunities but that could be more than offset by alienating existing trading partners if we pulled out of alliances with them.
Switzerland’s neutrality is backed up by a very strong ability to defend itself. It would almost certainly be far more expensive for New Zealand to build that sort of capability than to work with allies.
Switzerland’s neutrality is also helped by its position in Europe. It is land-locked and surrounded by neighbours who would almost certainly come to its aid should another country attack it for fear the aggressor wouldn’t stop at the Swiss border.
New Zealand is an isolated group of islands, which would be very unlikely to be used as a foothold for attacking any other country.
Australia is our only neighbour with serious military capability. If an aggressor ignored our neutrality, would it, or any of our current allies, come to our defence?
The USA’s ability to fly to Iran, drop bombs, and return home show distance from an aggressor is no longer protective.
In increasingly turbulent times, we need to be prepared to defend ourselves and our ability to do that would be greater if we had allies, than if we stood alone,
Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
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