Biden's Visit to Finland Highlights NATO's Expanding Power

 President Joe Biden has wrapped up a five-day trip to Europe with a brief stop in Finland, the newest member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The visit was to highlight the growth of the military alliance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and further pave the way for Ukraine to join the alliance.

Since taking office in January 2021, Biden has embraced the principles of multilateralism that his predecessor Donald Trump had so vehemently shunned. While in Finland, Biden was also meeting with leaders of other Nordic countries including Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

The US president's visit marked the first time a sitting US president has come to Finland to honour the country itself, rather than as a neutral location for meetings with Russian leaders or other similar reasons.

Biden's brief stop in Helsinki was preceded by a successful annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where allies agreed to language that would further pave the way for Ukraine to become a member. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the outcome of the summit “a significant security victory” for his country, despite the fact that Kyiv did not receive an invitation to join NATO.

The US president's trip also saw US and Turkish officials hold what aides said were pivotal conversations, leading to a reversal of Turkey's objections to Sweden joining NATO. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Finland in early June, when he and Finland's then-Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto signed a cooperation deal in advanced wireless communications.

The 1975 Helsinki Accords was the first such US-Soviet summit to take place in Finland, and the US-Nordic leaders' joint meeting in the Finnish capital was the third of its kind. In the Cold War era, Finland acted as a neutral buffer between Moscow and Washington, and its leaders played a balancing act between the East and West while maintaining good relations with both superpowers.

The US-Finland cooperation deal in wireless communications is also relevant to Washington, as it seeks to contain China's ambitions to dominate the mobile network industry through Huawei and other Chinese technology companies.

President Biden left Helsinki after what he termed a successful tour of Europe, saying that “we accomplished every goal we set out to accomplish.” The US president's visit to Finland culminated in a news conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö before departing for Washington.