WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump ramped up his claims to Greenland on Wednesday, saying ahead of a visit by Vice President JD Vance that the United States needed to take control of the Danish island for “international security.”
Since coming to power in January, Trump has repeatedly insisted that he wants the self-governed territory to be a US possession, refusing to rule out the use of force to achieve his goal.
“We need Greenland for international safety and security. We need it. We have to have it,” Trump told podcaster Vince Coglianese. “I hate to put it that way, but we’re going to have to have it.”
Greenland, which is seeking independence from Denmark, holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, though oil and uranium exploration are banned.
It is also strategically located between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have opened up because of climate change.
The US president’s latest strident comments come as Vice President Vance is due to accompany his wife Usha on a visit to the US-run Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on Friday.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland’s outgoing Prime Minister Mute Egede had earlier harshly criticized plans by a US delegation to visit the Arctic island uninvited for what was initially a much broader visit.
Egede had qualified the initial plans as “foreign interference,” noting that the outgoing government had not “sent out any invitations for visits, private or official.”
On Wednesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen welcomed the decision to limit the visit to the US space base.
“I think it’s very positive that the Americans have canceled their visit among Greenlandic society. They will only visit their own base, Pituffik, and we have nothing against that,” he told public broadcaster DR.
Greenlandic officials have repeatedly said the territory does not want to be either Danish or American, but is “open for business” with everyone.
According to opinion polls, most Greenlanders support independence from Denmark but not annexation by Washington.
Following March 11 elections, Greenland has only a transitional government, with parties still in negotiations to form a new coalition government.
Egede has called for “all countries to respect this process.”
Marc Jacobsen, a senior lecturer at the Royal Danish Defense College, called the decision to limit the US visit “a de-escalation,” a term also used by Foreign Minister Lokke.
“The fact that the Greenlandic and Danish authorities are telling you that you’re not welcome is significant,” he told AFP.
“The risk of negative coverage in the media and social networks may have weighed even more,” he added, noting that a demonstration was announced in Sisimiut, following an initial anti-US demonstration in the capital Nuuk on March 15.
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