US, Sept. 25 -- Seychelles President Dr. Patrick Herminie has taken a philosophy long associated with the island nation's tourism diplomacy onto the world stage, telling the United Nations that Seychelles is "a friend to all, and an enemy to none" and describing non-alignment as "an active choice for peace."

The message echoes an approach promoted internationally for years by former Seychelles Tourism Minister Alain St. Ange: welcome the world, maintain friendships across political divides and use tourism to connect rather than separate people.

Now the question is whether one of the world's best-known island tourism destinations could turn that philosophy - together with its neutrality, hospitality and relationships across geopolitical...