(AFP) – Denmark and Greenland’s top diplomats held high-stakes talks Wednesday at the White House, with no immediate signs of a breakthrough on President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of the Arctic island. An AFP photographer saw Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt leaving less than 90 minutes after the start of their meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Neither side commented after the meeting.
Hours before the talks, Denmark said it was boosting its military presence in Greenland in a bid to head off Trump’s escalating threats over the vast, sparsely populated territory controlled by Copenhagen. But Trump insisted earlier Wednesday that NATO should support the US effort to take control of Greenland, saying it was “vital” for his planned Golden Dome air and missile defense system. “Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
While the talks were underway, the White House posted on X: “Which way, Greenland man?” The post included a drawing of two dogsleds — one heading towards the White House and a huge US flag, and the other towards Chinese and Russian flags over a lightning-bathed Kremlin and Great Wall of China.
– ‘Standing together’ –
Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security. The row over Greenland has deeply shaken transatlantic relations. Both Denmark and Greenland insist only Greenlanders should decide the autonomous island’s fate.
In the quiet streets of the capital Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags were flying in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity as the talks got underway. “We are standing together in these times when we might feel vulnerable,” the Nuuk municipality wrote on Facebook.
Greenland’s leader said Tuesday that the island prefers to remain part of Denmark, prompting Trump to say “that’s going to be a big problem for him.” While there were no immediate details, the relatively short talks at the White House had always promised to be tough. Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during a visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.
Denmark had however taken steps to ease US concerns in the run-up to the meeting. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen told AFP earlier Thursday his country was boosting its military presence in Greenland and was in talks with NATO allies. The Danish defense ministry then announced that it would do so “from today,” hosting a military exercise and sending in “aircraft, vessels and soldiers.” Swedish officers were joining the exercise at Denmark’s request.
– Emboldened by Venezuela –
Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — and on what he views as the US backyard as a whole — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro. The White House has said military action against Greenland remains on the table. But Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an attack on a NATO ally would end the alliance that has been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.
Denmark is a founding member of NATO and its military joined the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the latter to much criticism. An agreement with Copenhagen currently allows the United States to station as many soldiers as it wants on Greenland. It also has a “space base” at Pituffik in northern Greenland. Trump insists the United States “needs” Greenland to guard against a takeover by Russia or China. Moscow and Beijing have both stepped up activity in the Arctic, where ice is melting due to climate change, but neither claims Greenland, which is home to 57,000 people.
– Danny Kemp and Shaun Tandon with Camille Bas-Wohlert in Copenhagen
© 2024 AFP
