”Länsieurooppalaiseksi” yhteistyökumppaniksi – Maakuva Suomen tiede- ja teknologiadiplomatiassa Japaniin 1987–1997

Authors

• Laura Ipatti Jyväskylän yliopisto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37449/ennenjanyt.163517

Keywords:

Kylmä sota, tiedediplomatia, TT-sopimus, Suomi, Japani

Abstract

The article focuses on the attempts by Finland’s governmental bodies to reach an agreement on scientific and technological cooperation with the western-allied liberal democracy and a flourishing market economy, Japan, that rivalled the United States and Western Europe in the technological competition of the 1980’s and offered Finland an alternative route to the group of leading high-tech countries. Japan, unlike Finland, was a member of the Western technology embargo, and thus being considered “Western European” became crucial for the neutral Finland in building contacts with Japan’s S & T administration, as this area of cooperation was considered politically increasingly sensitive amid the eroding bipolar cold war order. The original source material of Finnish ministries studied in this article show that, a central importance in pursuing the Japanese officials’ approval was given to Finland’s country image, which the Finnish diplomatic mission in Tokyo strove to polish, to picture Finland not as ‘finlandized’ but as a trustworthy partner to the US-allied economic powerhouse, Japan.