Greenland deal: Denmark says NATO shares responsibility for Arctic security

COPENHAGEN: Denmark, Greenland and the United States are to sign a deal on Greenland’s security on Tuesday, an agreement Denmark says will put Arctic security under NATO’s watch rather than leaving it solely to Washington and Copenhagen.

The agreement, to be signed at the UN General Assembly in New York at 10:30 a.m. ET(1430 GMT) on Tuesday, has not been made public, though President Donald Trump says it grants the US “permanent control”. Denmark and Greenland have not commented on Trump’s assertion but said the deal will benefit the Arctic island and respect its sovereignty.

A White House official said Trump on Tuesday will meet in New York with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen for a trilateral signing ceremony.

“The three leaders will formalize their new agreement that will secure and defend the security of Greenland and the United States,” the official said.

The deal follows months of pressure from Trump, who has said the United States should control Greenland and at times refused to rule out using military or economic force to acquire the semi-autonomous Danish territory. His threats, which peaked in January, triggered a diplomatic crisis within NATO and pushed Denmark and Greenland into negotiations with Washington aimed at defusing the pressure.

“It (the agreement) will be in a form where responsibility for security in the Arctic is not only Danish or American,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told national broadcaster TV2 on Sunday. He added that to a large extent “it would be NATO that looks after the Arctic”.

BOOSTING NATO’S ‘COHESION’

It remained unclear whether the deal amends an existing 1951 defence agreement that is the legal basis for the US presence in Greenland.

“It appears that we are now using this crisis to try to strengthen NATO’s cohesion through Greenland,” said Ulrik Pram Gad, a researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS).

Washington’s strategic interest in Greenland dates back to World War Two. In 1941, the US signed a deal with Danish envoy Henrik Kauffmann, who acted without authority from his country, then under German occupation.

The United States sought the deal to keep Greenland out of German hands and secure the North Atlantic supply route between North America and Europe. Under the agreement, the US built airfields, naval facilities, and weather stations across the island, reaching around 5,500 military personnel by 1943, according to DIIS.