Prime minister Mette Frederiksen
Denmark’s prime minister has called a meeting with party leaders on Thursday to discuss US President-elect Donald Trump’s ambitions to take control of Greenland, a government source said.
Trump, who is set to take office on January 20, sparked fresh concerns on Tuesday when he refused to rule out the possibility of military intervention in the Panama Canal and Greenland. He has said he wants US control over the Panama Canal and Greenland. Trump’s comments came as his son Donald Trump Jr. made a private visit to the Arctic island, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark.
“The meeting with party leaders gives us an opportunity to share the steps the government has taken in the past few days,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s office confirmed to AFP that the meeting would take place at 7:30 pm (1830 GMT) on Thursday. Foreign Minister Løkke Rasmussen said he did not believe Denmark was in a “foreign policy crisis” but that this meant “if words turn into actions… there can be a crisis.”
“When Denmark entered the Oval Office, there was no ambition to escalate the war of words with the president,” he stressed. “My own view is that you have to take Trump very seriously, but not always literally. We take it so seriously that we are working on it.” Trump first said he wanted to buy Greenland in 2019 during his first term as president. The offer was quickly rejected by Greenland and Denmark.
Greenland has major mineral and oil reserves. However, oil and uranium exploration is prohibited. It has a strategic location in the Arctic and already has a US military base. The Greenland government said on Wednesday that “Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland.” “The development and future of Greenland are decided only by its people,” the government said.
The government also said it would continue to cooperate with the United States as “one of our closest partners.” “Greenland has had more than 80 years of defense cooperation with the United States for the benefit of the security of Greenland, the United States, and the rest of the Western world,” it said.
Greenland rhetoric place
Kremlin watching Trump closely over Greenland rhetoric
The Kremlin is closely following US President-elect Donald Trump’s claim to Greenland, a spokesman said on Thursday, expressing relief that currently it was only rhetoric. Trump refused to rule out military action to take control of the Arctic island at a press conference Tuesday. He had earlier vowed to slap high tariffs on Denmark if it refused to cede its autonomous territory.
“We are very closely watching this rather dramatic development of the situation, which is, thank God, at the level of statements so far,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “We are interested in preserving peace and stability in this zone and are ready to co-operate with any parties for this peace and stability,” he added.
He also suggested the people of Greenland be consulted about what they wanted, pointing to Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions in 2022 based on referendums. “We should show the same respect for the opinion of these people,” Peskov said. Western countries and Kyiv denounced Russia’s annexations of four regions in Ukraine as illegal and the referendums as a sham.
Greenland is a mineral-rich autonomous territory of EU member Denmark and an associated territory of the 27-member bloc. Trump separately on Tuesday suggested using military force to secure control of the Panama Canal, which the United States handed back to Panama under late President Jimmy Carter, and leveraging economic force against neighbouring Canada.
