Salaisesta yhteistyöstä strategiseen kumppanuuteen: Suomen ja Japanin turvallisuuspoliittiset suhteet 1904–2023

Abstrakti

Today, while globalization has continuously strengthened, phenomena have emerged that seem to take global development in the opposite direction. The beginning of its current phase can be considered the massive One Belt, One Road policy that Chinese President Xi Jinping initiated in practice in 2013 to increase China’s influence in nearby regions and around the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine followed this policy the next year, along with the occupation of Crimea to restore the country’s Soviet-era superpower status.

Due to these events, the question of how various international crises can affect mutual relations between countries has been raised. I am studing this question in light of the relations between Finland and Japan, i.e. how different crises have been reflected in them. I will start with the Finnish-Japanese cooperation during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), after which I will briefly examine the security crisis of the 1930s, WWII, the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Finland and Japan in 1957, and finally, the visits of the Finnish state leadership to Japan from 2016 to 2022.

After the occupation of Crimea in 2014, President Sauli Niinistö visited Japan in March 2016, Defense Minister Jussi Niinistö in February 2019, Prime Minister Sanna Marin in May 2022 after the escalation of the war in Ukraine, and Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen in October that same year. I have studied the political relations between Finland and Japan often, but the aforementioned changes in international politics in the 2010s due to the politics of China and Russia have created a new starting point for them.

The Finnish-Japanese security policy cooperation and friendship that started with the Russo-Japanese War has progressed after several intermediate stages to the official strategic partnership concluded in 2016 and the clear cooperation declarations associated with this partnership. The cooperation was characterized by a conflict between the countries’ own and mutual interests and the rapprochement caused by external fears. A good example was that despite the close friendship between Finland and Japan, the differences in their basic interests arose during WWII.

However, Finland’s solid positioning in the Western world in the 1990s with the end of the YYA agreement and the EU agreement, Russia’s aggressive Ukraine policy since 2014, and China’s new foreign policy in 2013, triggered the situation in such a way that Finland now officially supports Japan’s policy in the Indo-Pacific region while Japan supports Finland’s policy in Europe. The rapprochement that started at the beginning of the 20th century has finally led through several international crises to a situation resembling an official alliance relationship and an emphasis on common values. Finland and Japan now share a common world further strengthened by Finland’s 2023 NATO membership and Japan’s increasing cooperation with NATO.