Joined by the Common Enemy. Finland’s foreign and defence policy actors’ view on Manchuria and its sovereignty in 1917-1944

During the first decades of the Finnish independence, the Finnish military and diplomatic actors constituted sovereignty through cooperation with official Manchurian actors. The image of the Soviet Union as a threat to Finland directed the Finnish actors’ views and actions in Manchuria, which also shared a boarder with the Soviet Union. Finland’s military cooperation aimed at gathering information on Soviet activities and supporting Manchurian actors against the Soviet Union. In addition to the shared enemy image, defining sovereignty was important to Finland. The Finnish policy actors’ understanding of Manchurian sovereignty was directed by Finland’s prevailing foreign policy orientation in Europe as well as intensity of the enemy image.

The Finnish actors seeking cooperation with the anti-Japan and anti-Russian Manchurian warlord in the turn of the 1930’s indicates that later activities in Manchuria were not only limited to signal amity with Japan. The establishment of Manchukuo on the one hand, and Finland’s commitment to the League of Nations non-recognition policy on the other, defined Finland’s relation to Manchuria in the 1930’s. The Finnish diplomatic actors’ view on Manchuria changed only after the outbreak of the Finnish Winter War in 1939 as the realities of the Finnish security policy started to change. After Finland recognized the independence of Manchukuo in 1941, the focus remained in military cooperation especially in training of the troops and in intelligence cooperation.

The research follows the constructivist method and identifies itself as a part of the School of New Diplomatic History. The main sources are the Archive of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Finnish War Archive and the Rolf Witting Archive.