Pronunciation ChallengeWhich Countries Are Neutral?

[Transcript]

Hey folks, Ken here. Today we’re gonna talk about neutral countries. Our episode today serves as a warm-up for the CNN10 show. It’s been a while since the last time we covered international news, so I figured it’d be a good approach to learn about international relations. Now, when it comes to neutral countries, most of us will definitely mention Switzerland, as that’s what the country is renowned for. However, are there any other neutral countries in the world? And what exactly does a neutral country mean by definition?

Generally it means that a country has declared their non-participation during a war, and, more specifically, cannot be counted on to oppose a belligerent country. A belligerent means countries actively engaged in battles and warfares. There are also non-belligerent countries, who take part in a war through support, but do not actually fight. Now, most countries only declare neutrality when war takes place among other countries. But, some countries, notably Switzerland and Ireland, are considered permanent neutral countries, which means they are forever neutral. Well, how many neutral countries are there? Technically, only Finland, Malta, Ireland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkmenistan, and the Vatican City are considered neutral. Nevertheless, a number of these countries mentioned that are within the EU are unable to claim neutrality due to the EU's mutual defense policy, which means they have to fight as a team when enemies attack. Thus, Austria, Finland, Malta, and Sweden are no longer expressly neutral as EU members. In other words, they’re not 100% neutral.

Although neutrality was originally an important aspect of diplomacy, there hasn’t been a far reaching conflict between superpowers since the Cold War, so there is little threat of invasion for most countries. With fighting limited to individual countries, it looks like the idea of neutrality can take a break for now. As you know, where there’s oil, I mean conflicts, the U.S. Government will undoubtedly come to the rescue. Or, they’ll run away, I mean, evacuate.

And now, here’s our sentence of the day:

Generally it means that a country has declared their non-participation during a war, and more specifically cannot be counted on to oppose a belligerent country.

[Vocabulary words]

1. declare
to announce something officially

Ex: America declared war on Japan in 1941.

2. oppose
to disagree with or fight against

Ex: Most of the local residents opposed the closing of the school.

3. belligerent
wishing to fight and argue, or a country that is currently at war

Ex: The belligerent countries are having difficulties funding the war.


And there you have it, that’s all we have time for today.
It’s really hard for me to imagine what Afghanistan is going through right now.
Is it right to blame everything on America?
Well.. I don’t think I’m qualified to make any judgments.
But I do know that as an island nation.
We have to stick together for this ship to sail and not sink.
Whether it’s the pandemic or international status.
Unity is the key to a better, rosier future.

This is Ken Miao and I’ll see you guys again next week.