Fashion Faux Pas? Finnish Minister Greets Chinese Leader in Tibetan Colors

At the time of the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Finland, Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Anne Berner was seen wearing a bright orange coat. Orange is often associated with the outfits of Tibetan monks and, unsurprisingly, drew the attention of the Finnish media, which started speculating whether it was an intentional provocation or merely an unlucky coincidence. The political speculations were largely fueled by the demonstrations of supporters of independent Tibet, which were held the same day, as well as Amnesty International's demand to put human rights in China on the agenda.

According to Cecilia Innanen, the chairman of the Finnish-Tibetan Cultural Society, orange-yellow is a very symbolic and important color of Tibetan Buddhism or Lamaism. The Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, is known to appear in public dressed in an orange-yellow shirt.

"It is worn exclusively by the very highest and most enlightened monks and sages," Cecilia Innanen told Finnish newspaper Ilta-Sanomat, admitting that a yellower shade is also allowed for ordinary monks.

Innanen ventured it was unlikely that Berner's conspicuous attire was a token of support for the Tibetan government in exile or the Free Tibet cause.

"However, it would be pretty comfortable to communicate the idea with such small touches," Innanen said.

Kaarina Suonperä, former politician and renowned Finnish expert in etiquette, fashion and protocol, ventured that such a provocative coat was most likely a coincidence, since Anne Berner was not "the type of person who goes to political demonstrations." However, she also admitted that bright orange-yellow most certainly evokes images of Buddhist monks and called Berner's choice of outfit "startling."

Nevertheless, the Chinese delegation did not seem to mind what could be perceived as a diplomatic lapse, and Xi Jinping's visit ended in a Joint Declaration on establishing and promoting the future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership, as well as a number of bilateral agreements on cooperation in education, culture, forestry, transport, IT, energy and urbanization.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said he supported the One-China policy, whereas his Chinese counterpart said at a subsequent press conference that China and Finland had a long history of friendly relations.

Tibet has been under Chinese rule since 1951. Buddhist spiritual leader and the Nobel Peace Prize winner Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India for decades. In Finland, branches of various pro-Tibetan organizations exist, such as the Tibet Support Group or the Friends of Tibet.

 

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