Unlock Editor’s Digest Lock for Free
FT editor Roula Khalaf will select your favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen will visit Greenland next week to meet the island’s newly appointed Jens Frederick Nielsen after US vice president JD Vance claims Denmark is ignoring autonomous territory.
Danish officials opposed US criticism on Saturday, saying the US ignored Greenland’s security by significantly reducing its military presence in the Arctic.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Rocke Rasmussen responded to an uninvited visit to a US military base in Greenland on Friday, saying Copenhagen is “open to criticism,” but said, “We are not grateful for the tone it is being delivered.
He added: “In 1945, the United States had 17 bases and military facilities in Greenland along with thousands of soldiers. Today, there is only one base left in America. And it’s like 200 soldiers. There’s more to do in today’s framework.
Donald Trump’s national desire to take over Greenland from Denmark puts his future in the Arctic Island and its geopolitical spotlight of 57,000 people.
Vance, along with US national security adviser Mike Waltz and energy secretary Chris Wright, visited Pitafik Space Station, accusing Denmark of not doing “good work by the people of Greenland.”
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, but the majority of its population ultimately wants independence from Copenhagen.
After admitting that they were not fully invested in the island’s safety, Danish officials who announced a $2 billion defense package initially took a cautious approach to Trump’s expansionist claims. However, last week they grew more aggressively.
Rasmussen said Vance also admitted that the US has not invested sufficiently in the Arctic Circle. “The fact is, we have all harvested the dividends of peace. We all acted on the assumption that the Arctic should be a low-tension region and a low-tension region. But that time is over. The status quo is not an option,” he said.
Trump claimed that the US fell into Russia and China in areas such as icebreakers as the two biggest geopolitical rivals prepare for melting ice in the far north.
But Danish and Greenland officials were horrifying at his rhetoric of “we must have” excluded Greenland and refusing to eliminate military force.
On Friday, Vance said he didn’t think “military strength would be needed” as he hoped Greenlander would choose to independence from Denmark and then to choose a close partnership with the US. The vice president added that there is a threat from China and Russia to Greenland, but experts said the only public threat came from the United States.
Denmark sent troops to fight alongside US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, whose officials were disappointed by criticism from their nearest security allies. But they were also relieved that Vance had not escalated the issue. “I thought it would get worse,” the person said.
Fredericksen said Vance’s criticism was not “a fair way to refer to Denmark.”
Under the broad defense agreement from 1951, the United States is permitted to establish military bases throughout Greenland, unless it clashes with Danish sovereignty.
Officials in Greenland and Danish have said the US has proposed several times in recent years to increase the footsteps of its military, but the US has instead reduced its presence.
Greenland announced a new broad government coalition on Friday. Nielsen criticized Vance for his lack of respect by announcing his uninvited visit while government formation was still in progress. Many Danish ministers say they will be visiting soon now that a new government has been formed.
