Copenhagen (AFP) – Danish and Greenlandic officials will hold high-stake talks about Greenland’s future on Wednesday at the White House with US Vice President JD Vance, who has accused Denmark of neglecting its autonomous territory. US President Donald Trump has been talking up the idea of buying or annexing the Arctic territory for years, and further stoked tensions this week by saying the United States would take it “one way or the other”.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen on Tuesday that he and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, had requested a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Vance had asked to take part and host it at the White House. After Trump made repeated statements in early 2025 about wanting to take over Greenland, Vance announced he was making an uninvited visit to the Arctic island in March. Following an angry outcry in Denmark and Greenland, he ended up limiting his visit to the US Pituffik military base in northwestern Greenland.
During his stay—which only lasted several hours—he slammed Denmark for what he said was a lack of commitment to Greenland and security in the Arctic, and called it a “bad ally”. The remarks enraged Copenhagen, which has been an ardent trans-Atlantic supporter and which has sent troops to fight US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “On the contrary, the United States should thank Denmark, which over the years has been a very loyal ally,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson recalled on Sunday.
– ‘Misunderstandings’ –
For Nuuk and Copenhagen, Wednesday’s meeting at the White House is aimed at ironing out “misunderstandings”. These relate to Greenland’s defence, the Chinese and military presence in the Arctic, and the relationship between Greenland and Copenhagen, which together with the Faroe Islands make up the Kingdom of Denmark. “To the uninformed American listener, the ongoing talks between Denmark and Greenland might have been construed as if Greenland’s secession from Denmark was imminent,” said Greenland specialist Mikaela Engell.
For these listeners, “I can understand that, in this situation, it would be better for the Americans to take hold of that strategic place”, the former Danish representative on the island told AFP. But this “discussion has been going on for years and years and it has never meant that Greenland was on its way out the door”, she stressed. Washington has accused Copenhagen of doing little to protect Greenland from what it says is the threat posed by China and Russia. Denmark’s government rejects that argument and recently recalled that it has invested almost 90 billion kroner ($14 billion) to beef up its military presence in the Arctic.
Denmark’s foreign minister said the reason Copenhagen and Nuuk had requested Wednesday’s meeting was “to move the entire discussion…into a meeting room, where you can look each other in the eye and talk through these issues”. He will be heading to Washington with Greenlandic counterpart Motzfeldt, who will also join Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen in a meeting with NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte on January 19 to discuss Arctic security. Denmark and Greenland have made it clear they are counting on NATO for the island’s defence.
“We are now moving forward with the whole issue of a more permanent, larger presence in Greenland from the Danish defence forces but also with the participation of other countries,” Lund Poulsen told the press. Rutte said on Monday the NATO alliance was working on “the next steps” to bolster Arctic security. Diplomats at NATO say some Alliance members have floated the idea of launching a new mission in the region, although no concrete proposals are yet on the table.
© 2024 AFP
