Foreign Policy Between Portugal and Finland (1917- 1994)
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working paper # 96 outubro / 2020 FOREIGN POLICY BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND FINLAND (1917- 1994) Luís Sargento Freitas Membro Associado do Observatório Político Abstract This descriptive paper originally came up as an idea as Finland celebrated its 100th year anniversary on December, 6th 2017. This fact led me to the intent of studying diplomatic ties and foreign policies between these two countries, Portugal and Finland. In order to achieve this objective, a long research involving hundreds of documents from the Portuguese National Archives (Torre do Tombo) and in the Portuguese Foreign Affairs Ministry was performed and after careful consideration and selection only the documents relevant to the issues at hand were included in this paper. Almost all of these documents have never been academically debated as regards to their importance for an interdisciplinary study of this nature. By bringing these documents to light, one will be able to shed a greater understanding on foreign policy scholarship, particularly between these two countries, European diplomatic history from 1917 until 1994, political science and international relations. Keywords Finland, Portugal, foreign policy, diplomatic history, international relations Introduction Portugal and Finland are two countries whose foreign policies have hardly ever been comparatively studied in the academic world. This study will focus on documents found from the Portuguese National Archives (Torre do Tombo) and at the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, therefore, on several of the past Portuguese governments’ views, actions, and debates. The research question of this study is: Why were diplomatic and political relations initiated and continued between the different governments of Finland 1 working paper # 96 outubro / 2020 and Portugal from 1917 until 1994 and how were these exchanges observed by Portuguese governmental officials? Although some studies in Finnish foreign policy (in Africa and elsewhere) such as the ones from Iina Soiri and Pekka Peltola (1999), Tiilikainen (2005) or from Palosaari (2013) have already researched some of the topics this paper will debate, or, for example, many foreign policy experts or historians in Portugal such as Mattoso (1998), or Nuno Severiano Teixeira (2005, 2010) or Fernando Rosas (1988) have debated the most important and controversial aspects of Portugal’s foreign policy through the centuries, our focus on the analysis of these Finnish policies and practices viewed from the perspective of Portuguese governments (and the Estado Novo regime) and the documents left behind is the novelty on which this study relies. The total number of documents from the records of both Torre do Tombo and the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reach the thousands, therefore, a careful choice had to be made in order to select those with political, economic, financial, commercial, humanitarian and academic relevance for the objectives of this study. Official diplomatic relations between these two countries started on the 10th of January, 1920, roughly three years after the independence of Finland, when Jorge José Rodrigues dos Santos is sent to Helsinki1. He was the 2nd Secretary of the Portuguese Legation in Stockholm and was then sent on an “extraordinary public service mission”, however, records at the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs exist that attest that indirect relations between Portugal and Finland, under the rule of the Russian Empire, had already existed since the XIXth century that were mainly based on commodities’ trade and mostly done through the port of Riga. Portugal’s political relationship with Sweden, that also controlled some of the territory of contemporary Finland, is one that dates back to 1641. Portugal exists since 1143 and has had a diverse foreign policy. One of its first ideals (after the full conquest of the Western part of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors) was the establishment and the protection of its colonial empire which was started in the late 1400’s, while developing a political alliance with England (the oldest alliance in the world established in 1386 by the Treaty of Windsor) to secure itself against any European invader. 1 No Portuguese Embassy existed in Finland from 1920 until 1971, only Legations. It was only in 1972 that a Portuguese Embassy in Finland was created. 2 working paper # 96 outubro / 2020 The history of Finnish foreign policy is very different from this one. Being a recent country established in 1917, at the end of World War I, Finland had always been under the influence or effective domain of either Sweden or Russia. With the approximation of the end of the World War I and most importantly the Russian revolution that overthrew the Tsarist regime in Russia, a path was opened for Finnish independence. Finland was then an independent nation on the 6th of December of 1917 working as a parliamentary republic2. Soon after independence, during the first months of 1918, the country was plunged into a civil war between “Reds” (aided by Russia) and the “Whites” (aided by the German empire). This civil war lasted close to 4 months ending with the victory of the “Whites”. During World War II, Finland’s position was a difficult one as it had to avert a series of attacks by the Soviet Union in 1939 during the Winter War and later the Continuation War. The hostilities ended in September 1944. Finland maintained its independence and sovereignty ceding some territories in the East and North-East, (Petsamo, Salla and parts of the Karjala region) to the Soviet Union and was forced to pay war reparations for the decades to come3. Portugal supported Finland’s independence and its war against the Soviet Union with economic, financial, military, diplomatic, and humanitarian aid being given to this country, as the Portuguese government of the time had cut off diplomatic ties with Russia after the Soviet revolution (Portuguese-Soviet diplomatic ties were cut between 1918 and 1974), consequently, it was in the interest of the Portuguese government of the time to fight against communism. During World War II, diplomatic and commercial relations between Portugal and Finland increased. During the war years, all of these meetings were made between Francisco de Paula Brito Junior (Head of Division for Economic Affairs), Francisco de Castro Caldas (Vice-President of the Corporative Technical Council for Commerce and Industry) and Fernando de Oliveira (Secretary of the Legation) on the Portuguese side and George Winckelman (Extraordinary Envoy and Plenipotentiary Minister) and Tauno Jalanti 2 Although the monarchists of 1918 did try to enforce the XVIIIth century Swedish constitution. Following the resignation of the German king that did not take the throne, an interregnum prevailed after which the republican constitution was passed in July, 1919. 3 300 million dollars that were “payable over 8 years from September 19, 1944, in commodities (timber products, paper, cellulose, sea-going and river craft, sundry machinery and other commodities”. This information is available at: [Seen on the 24-03-2018]; URL:<http://ahd.mne.pt/nyron/Library/catalog/winlibsrch.aspx?skey=D8F8669B582D44DC8B623D419FAA 97A9&pesq=3&cap=&var6=Finl%u00e2ndia&opt6=and&var1=&var2=&var5=&var4=&nohist=true&doc=20 489>. 3 working paper # 96 outubro / 2020 (Commercial Director in the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on the Finnish side. More than 90 million Markkaa (in 1940’s values) in commodities were negotiated and sold to Finland mainly through the Petsamo-Lisbon route: paper, sardines, cashew, citric acid, turpentine, sugar, coffee, furs, locks, sporting goods, cork, and port wine. There were even other occurrences, such as the desire of the Finnish State to sell Finnish ships stationed in American ports to Portugal as it was a neutral country (Switzerland was also interested in this exchange). These twelve boats with about 30 thousand tonnes could only be used for commercial interests as they could not do business with any country at war with Finland. Interest in the boats “Yldum”, “Enja”, “Elsa S” and “Anja” is manifested but only “Anja” is sold to Portugal through the “Companhia Colonial de Navegação”, a Portuguese shipping company. An unknown number of Finnish boats stationed in the United States was left there. The Swedish government also bought 24 Finnish ships for the price of 75 million Swedish Kroner provided that they did not interfere with British or German interests during the war. After the end of World War II, the “Treaty of Peace with Finland” of 1947 was signed and stated that peaceful relations with Finland were beneficial and formed the basis for future political and economic relations between the countries of the world4. Portugal also had to respect the foundations of this treaty in its post-war relations with Finland. With the end of World War II, diplomatic relations between Portugal and Finland, became mostly based on commercial transactions (later made within the European Free Trade Association. It was only after the start of the Portuguese colonial wars that new developments in this relationship started to be visible5. During the Cold War, Finland’s position was a prudent and meticulous one serving as a bridge between East and West. Urho Kekkonen, the longest serving Finnish President (1956-1982), stated that Finland operates more as “a physician, rather than a judge” in world politics (Palosaari, 2013). It is argued that Finland did not have complete freedom to pursue its independent foreign policy (Palosaari, 2013) during most of the Cold War as it was unaligned and semi-dependent on Soviet Russia’s consent, however, Finland did involve itself in numerous conflicts in Africa either providing medical 4 “Traité de paix avec la Finlande”; Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros, Biblioteca e Arquivo Histórico Diplomático, 1947. 5 Marshal Mannerheim, one of the most important Finnish politicians of the time, visited Portugal after the War on the 11th of December, 1945 and stayed until at least the 17th of December. This information is available at: Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo; “Auxílio Português à Finlândia, durante a Guerra Russo- Finlandesa” Reference code: Cód.