R 201441Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO NSC WASHDC
SECSTATE WASHDC 5130
DIA WASHINGTON DC
INFO EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
NATO EU COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000312 
 
 
STATE FOR S/GC/AMB FRIED 
NSC FOR J.HOVENIER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2019 
TAGS: PREL PREF PHUM FI CH
SUBJECT: FINLAND: LET'S TALK DETAINEES, JUST NOT UIGHURS 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael A. Butler for reasons 
1.4(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) In an August 18 meeting with CDA Butler, Prime 
Minister Vanhanen's Senior Advisor Esko Hamilo expressed the 
Finnish Government's willingness to discuss the possibility 
of accepting detainees from Guantanamo.  Hamilo welcomed the 
prospect of a visit from Special Envoy Fried in September. 
He said during Fried's visit they expected to receive a list 
of detainees to consider, and added quickly that they hoped 
the list would contain no Uighurs.  The Finns are concerned 
about their relations with China; Hamilo said that Chinese 
diplomats in Helsinki have repeatedly warned them about the 
damage to bilateral relations should Finland accept any 
Uighurs. (NOTE: Hamilo's comments followed Special Envoy 
Fried's phone conversation with Foreign Minister Stubb on 
August 11 about a September visit to Helsinki, and after the 
Cabinet's Foreign and Security Committee took up the question 
of detainees on August 14.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶2. (SBU) China is extremely important to Finland's ailing and 
export-driven economy.  As Finnish Minister of Trade and 
Development Paavo Vayrynen pointed out to a 240-strong 
Chinese business delegation in Finland in July, China is 
Finland's largest trade partner in Asia, and its fourth 
largest globally; approximately 240 Finnish companies have a 
permanent presence in China, and Finnish companies have 
invested roughly seven billion euros there.  Also, as Nokia 
CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo stated in an August 18 globalization 
seminar in Helsinki, China is Nokia's largest market. 
 
¶3. (C) COMMENT: Finnish officials have for months considered 
the possibility of accepting detainees, though they balked at 
any bilateral discussions before the EU arrived at a common 
position regarding Member States' acceptance of detainees. 
In the spring a Stubb senior advisor told P/E Chief that he 
thought a consensus in the four-party coalition to accept 
detainees would prove very difficult.  With the EU having 
arrived at a common position and some Member States agreeing 
to accept detainees (and the more transatlantic National 
Coalition Party in a stronger position in government after 
better showings than Prime Minister Vanhanen's party in 
recent elections), the atmosphere in the Cabinet may have 
changed.  In reporting on the Cabinet's August 14 discussion 
of the "detainee question" the main Finnish newspaper 
Helsingin Sanomat cited "unofficial assessments" that the 
government would likely offer asylum to a small number of 
detainees. Whether acceptance is "likely" is unclear, but 
undoubtedly the Finns will give serious consideration to a 
(Uighur-free) list of detainees.  END COMMENT. 
 
BUTLER