Finnish President Tarja Halonen and Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) are still not commenting on issues concerning Finland that have come out in revelations of US diplomatic communications made public by WikiLeaks.
Halonen and Stubb represented Finland on Wednesday at a summit of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, which currently holds the chairmanship of the OSCE.
There were repeated assurances at the summit that the leaked information would not affect relations between the USA and other countries.
One of the leaked documents suggested that China had pressured Finland not to accept Uigur prisoners that the United States was releasing from the Guantánamo camp.
President Halonen said that she sees no reason why Finland should reassess its own policy line in confidentiality.
“There may be a need to keep information confidential for a time, but sooner or later it will come out”, Halonen said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave assurances at her press conference that the United States is ready to answer questions, which “people have a reason and a right to ask”.
Stubb said that the leaks have not influenced the main issues at the meeting.
One aim of the summit is to come up with a political declaration that would balance Russia’s military security goals with the West’s calls for commitments on human rights.
For the sake of the reputation of the OSCE, as everyone still sees it as a necessary organisation, it would be important to achieve something”, Halonen said.
