No, Mr. Painstate, it says “original”, which modifies each noun in that sentence. Strict neutrals turned into pro-axis territories are not “original”…“pro-axis neutrals”, they are former Strict Neutrals.
We also had this question in relation to G42; does UK need to retain Persia (which is not an original territory, but one with a UK control marker in place at game start for this version) in order to retain its “integrity” NO? The answer is no, because Persia is not an “original” UK territory; only the ones with printed UK rondels are.
As to the substantive argument here, Cow is on it. Norway is a good place to set up a Allied base, but this takes forever, and it isn’t very viable until you kill the Baltic German Navy, and if you could do that, there are probably even cooler targets than Norway. Heading through Spain is complicated by the need to knock out at least Turkey, giving only Sweden, Switz and Saudi up to the bad guys. The benefit is that you don’t have to violate this neutrality at a specific time; it can always be open as an option and so you can begin the transport and US involvement in the war without violating neutrality until you are ready. Spain and Gibraltar are the only areas where the shuck-shuck works properly. Also, you only have to defend the 91 fleet, not 2-3 other mixed fleets supporting a northern invasion and guarding the UK units.