What kind of country is Switzerland? What are the characteristics?

Central European landlocked countries. The full name of the Swiss Confederation. The area is 4 1.300 square kilometers. The population is 6.99 million (1993). Most of them are Swiss and some are foreigners. German, French and Italian are official languages; Among the residents, 64% speak German, 65,438+09% speak French and 8% speak Italian. And 1% of the residents speak Latin Romance, and 9% speak other languages. Catholicism accounts for 46% and Christianity accounts for 40%. The capital, Bern.

Geographically, it borders Austria and Liechtenstein in the east, Italy in the south, France in the west and Germany in the north. The whole terrain is high and steep, which is divided into three natural terrain areas: Jura Mountain in the northwest, Alps in the south and Central Plateau. The average elevation is about1350m. Dufour Peak, located on the Swiss-Italian border, is 4,634 meters above sea level, which is the highest point in China. The main rivers are Rhine and Rhone. There are as many as 1484 lakes, the largest of which is the world-famous Lake Geneva (Lake Lemmon), with an area of about 58 1 km2. It belongs to temperate climate, with an average annual temperature of 9 degrees Celsius. The annual average precipitation is 530 ~ 1700 mm.

History was conquered by the Roman army in 58 BC. In the 3rd century, aleman (Germanic people) invaded eastern and northern Switzerland, and Burgundy people invaded the western regions, establishing the first Burgundy dynasty. In the 6th century, the Minister of the East was the Duke of Germany, and the second Burgundy Dynasty was established in the West. In 774, all Swiss territories were merged into the Frankish Kingdom. 165438+ruled by the holy Roman Empire since the 20th century. 129 1 year, the three states of Uli, Schwier and Lower Walden secretly formed a permanent alliance with Switzerland in the struggle against the Habsburg dynasty, which laid the foundation for Switzerland to become an independent country. The post-alliance is expanding to form a loose federation. 1499 gained de facto independence from the rule of the Holy Roman Empire. The Peace Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 confirmed the independence of Switzerland. 1798 was invaded by France. Under the protection of France, the "first Hervey Republic" was established, and 13 Swiss confederation collapsed. 1803 Restore federalism. 18 15 The Vienna Conference confirmed Switzerland as a permanent neutral country. 1848 promulgated the Constitution, established the Federal Council and became a unified federal state. Remained neutral in both world wars. Since 1959, the coalition government has been composed of Radical Democratic Party, Swiss Socialist Party, Christian Democratic Party and Intermediate Democratic Alliance, and the political situation is relatively stable.

The Swiss political constitution was promulgated in 1848. It has been modified many times since 1874. According to the constitution, Switzerland is a federal country, and each state is a sovereign state with its own constitution. The federal government has jurisdiction over foreign affairs, national defense, railways, national highways, posts and telecommunications, customs, federal taxes and currency, and other matters are under the jurisdiction of the States. States must abide by federal national legislation and accept federal supervision. According to the Constitution, Switzerland implements direct democracy in the form of "referendum" and "citizens' initiative", that is, any amendment to the constitutional provisions, signing of international treaties above 15 or joining important international organizations must go through a referendum and be approved by citizens and the state before it can take effect.

The Federal Parliament consists of the National Assembly and the Federal Parliament, which have the same power and are the legislative bodies of the Federation. Only when the two houses reach an agreement can a law or resolution take effect. The National Assembly has 200 members elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years. The Bundestag has 46 members. The term of office varies from state to state, with a maximum of four years.

The Federal Council (that is, the government) is the highest administrative body of the country, consisting of seven members, who are ministers of seven ministries and exercise collective leadership. 1995 Caspar Villiger, chairman of the federal Council.

The main political parties are: ① Radical Democratic Party, founded in 1894. ② Swiss Socialist Party, founded in 1888. ③ Christian Democratic Party, founded in 19 12, formerly known as People's Conservative Party, was renamed in 1970. ④ Intermediate Democratic Alliance, 19 19 was formed by the merger of the Peasants' Party and the Democratic Party. ⑤ Swiss Labor Party, formerly known as Swiss Production Party, was founded in 19 12, and changed to its current name in 1944.

A capitalist industrial country with a highly developed economy. China adopts a free economic policy with minimal government intervention, and attracts a large number of foreign workers to engage in low-paid jobs. Internationally, it advocates free trade and opposes trade protectionism. Affected by the world economic downturn, the Swiss economy experienced negative growth at 1992. The GDP of 1992 is 338.355 billion Swiss francs (calculated at the current market price). The currency unit is Swiss franc, and the exchange rate is 1.37 Swiss franc to 1 US dollar (the exchange rate is1March 994).

Rich in hydraulic resources, the utilization rate reaches 95%. The forest area is1120,000 hectares, covering 28.7%, with an annual output of more than 4 million cubic meters of wood. The main industrial sectors are machinery, chemicals, textiles, clocks and watches and food. Nestle Food Company is the largest food company in the world. The export value of 65,438+0,992 watches reached 7.4 billion Swiss francs. The proportion of agriculture in the national economy is very small, accounting for about 4% of the gross national product. The main crops are wheat, oats, potatoes and beets. Meat is basically self-sufficient and dairy products are more than self-sufficient. Tourism is very developed, with a history of more than 200 years, and is an important part of the economy. In order to develop mountain tourism, there are 94 kilometers of rack railway, more than 50 special railways for mountaineering, more than 400 cable crane lines and more than 0/000 ski cable chair lines. The main tourist spots are Geneva, Zurich, Lucerne and Dixino.

Road and rail transportation are the main areas in China. The total length of the railway is 5348 kilometers, and it has been fully electrified. The total length of the highway is 7 1 000 km. Swissair has a total length of 349,000 kilometers and flies through 67 countries, 107 cities. The main international airports are Zurich and Geneva.

Foreign trade plays an important role in Swiss economy. 95% of raw materials, energy and 60% of consumer goods depend on imports; 70% ~ 90% of domestic industrial products need to be exported. The main export commodities are machinery, metallurgy, chemicals and medicines, watches and clocks, textiles, clothing and food; Imported goods are mainly raw materials, semi-finished fuel products and durable consumer goods. The main trading partners are European countries, small free trade zone countries and the United States.

Swiss foreign investment is relatively high. The total overseas investment from 65438 to 0992 has reached 830.6 billion Swiss francs. Mainly invested in the Netherlands, Britain, Canada, Germany, France, the United States and so on. Switzerland allocates about 700 million Swiss francs in foreign development cooperation assistance every year, and the aid projects are mainly agricultural and rural construction in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Switzerland implements a policy of high wages, high welfare and high consumption.

Culture, education and education are managed by the states themselves, with self-raised funds and self-compiled textbooks. Nine-year compulsory education is implemented throughout the country. There are 10 institutions of higher learning, two of which are federally managed, namely Zurich Polytechnic Institute and Lausanne Polytechnic Institute. There are two news agencies in Switzerland: Swiss News Agency and Swiss Political News Agency. The most influential German newspaper is New Zurich. There are radio stations in all language areas; There is a TV station in German, French and Italian.

External Relations Switzerland is a permanently neutral country and pursues a positive neutral policy. Universality, quality service and international cooperation constitute the three elements of Swiss foreign policy. Switzerland's foreign relations are based on Europe and advocates all-European cooperation. Later, in order to adapt to the changes in the international situation, he adjusted his neutrality policy, strengthened his diplomatic activities, actively participated in CSCE, supported the "North-South Dialogue", attended meetings of non-aligned countries, and participated in all specialized agencies of the United Nations except the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. China has also actively participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations, and increased its assistance in terms of funds, materials and personnel dispatch.

Switzerland has close political and economic relations with Europe. Politically, he often consults with Germany, France, Italy, Britain and other countries. From 65438 to 0992, the trade between Switzerland and Europe accounted for 58.9% of its export products and 73.4% of its import products. 40% of Swiss foreign investment is in Europe. There are 840,000 foreigners from European countries in Switzerland, accounting for 69.4% of the total number of foreigners in Switzerland.

Switzerland was one of the first western countries to establish diplomatic relations with China. 1950 September 14 The two countries formally established diplomatic relations and exchanged ministers. 1956 and 1957, respectively, China and Sweden upgraded their legations to embassies. In recent years, relations between the two countries have developed rapidly. 1990 in July, China and Switzerland formally signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation on income and property. 1992, the trade volume between the two countries was 683 million US dollars.

1868 Switzerland established diplomatic relations with the United States. The two countries have good political relations and close economic relations. Switzerland advocates strengthening the unity between Western Europe and the United States, and believes that the US military presence in Europe is "the basic guarantee for maintaining the balance of power in Europe and Switzerland's neutrality". The two countries often hold consultations on international economic and monetary issues. Switzerland opposes the protectionist measures of the United States.

After 1989, Switzerland strengthened its political and economic ties with Eastern European countries. 1In March 1990, the Swiss Parliament approved the provision of 250 million Swiss francs in aid loans to Poland, Hungary and other countries, of which1600,000 was used to encourage Swiss enterprises to invest in Eastern Europe and ensure that Poland would pay the loans owed for goods imported from Switzerland.