Danish PM says Greenland showdown at ‘decisive moment’ after new Trump threats

BERLIN - Denmark’s Prime Minister said on Jan 11 that her country faces a “decisive moment” in its diplomatic battle over Greenland after US President Donald Trump again

suggested using force to seize the Arctic territory

.

Ahead of meetings in Washington from Jan 12 on the global scramble for key raw materials, Ms Mette Frederiksen said “there is a conflict over Greenland”.

“This is a decisive moment” with stakes that go beyond the immediate issue of Greenland’s future, she added in a debate with other Danish political leaders.

Ms Frederiksen posted on Facebook that “we are ready to defend our values – wherever it is necessary – also in the Arctic. We believe in international law and in peoples’ right to self-determination”.

Germany and Sweden backed Denmark against Mr Trump’s latest claims to the self-governing Danish territory.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson

condemned US “threatening rhetoric”

after Mr Trump repeated that Washington was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not”.

“Sweden, the Nordic countries, the Baltic states and several major European countries stand together with our Danish friends,” he told a defence conference in Salen where the US general in charge of NATO took part.

Mr Kristersson said a US takeover of mineral-rich Greenland would be “a violation of international law and risks encouraging other countries to act in exactly the same way”.

No ‘immediate threat’

Germany reiterated its support for Denmark and Greenland ahead of the Washington discussions.

Before meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan 12, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was to hold talks in Iceland to address the “strategic challenges of the Far North”, according to a foreign ministry statement.

“The legitimate interests of all NATO Allies, as well as those of the inhabitants of the (Arctic) region, must be at the centre of our discussions,” Dr Wadephul said.

“It is clear that it is exclusively up to Greenland and Denmark to decide questions of Greenland’s territory and sovereignty,” he previously told Germany’s Bild daily.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said ahead of an international meeting on critical raw materials in Washington: “We are strengthening security in the Arctic together, as NATO allies, and not against one another.”

European nations have scrambled to coordinate a response after the White House said last week that Mr Trump wanted to buy Greenland and refused to rule out military action.

On Jan 6, leaders of seven European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy

signed a letter saying it is “only” for Denmark and Greenland to decide

the territory’s future.

Mr Trump says controlling the island is crucial for US national security because of rising Russian and Chinese military activity in the Arctic.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Alexus Grynkewich told the Swedish conference that alliance members were discussing Greenland’s status. The US general added that while there was “no immediate threat” to NATO territory, the Arctic’s strategic importance is fast growing.

General Grynkewich said he would not comment on “the political dimensions of recent rhetoric” but that talks on Greenland were being held at the North Atlantic Council.

“Those dialogues continue in Brussels. They have been healthy dialogues, from what I’ve heard,” he said.

A Danish colony until 1953, Greenland gained home rule 26 years later and is contemplating eventually loosening its ties with Denmark. Polls indicate that Greenland’s population strongly oppose a US takeover.

“I don’t think there’s an immediate threat to NATO territory right now,” Gen Grynkewich told the conference.

But he said Russian and Chinese vessels had been seen patrolling together on Russia’s northern coast and near Alaska and Canada, working together to get greater access to the Arctic as ice recedes due to global warming. AFP