• The Guardian, Friday, August 3, 2007 11:15 AM

The Swiss army needs a fresh batch of 65,000 pocket knives that are as closely associated with the country as the Matterhorn. Because of the high value of the contract, it looks like the tendering process must be opened to companies worldwide and China--which has been producing pirate copies of the knife for years. China is thought to have the best chance of winning it.

The issue has become one of the hottest political topics of the summer in the land of cuckoo clocks and muesli, with far-right politicians saying that national pride is at stake. "If the Swiss army knife no longer comes from Switzerland, then we might as well stop producing it altogether," says Thomas Fuchs, MP for the Swiss People's party.

Alois Kessler, a lawyer and a former colonel in the Swiss army, has taken up the campaign and launched a nationwide petition, "Keep Soldiers' Pocket Knives Swiss!" He says having Swiss soldiers carry a Made in China knife "would be like us giving them German-made chocolate."

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