JD Vance blasts Denmark during first US vice-presidential visit to Greenland
US Vice President JD Vance paid a visit on Friday (28 March) to the Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland, making him the first American vice president to travel to the Danish territory. He was joined by his wife, Usha, and senior US officials.
Vance opened his address by thanking the troops for giving him a “warm reception in a very, very cold place.” He said he carried a message from President Donald Trump, who is “thankful for your service” and “proud of you.”
Referring to the strategic importance of the base, Vance said, “If, God forbid, to my fellow Americans, if a missile was fired from an enemy country or an enemy submarine into the United States, it is the people here before us, who would give notice to our brave men and women further south… to let people know what was coming, and God willing to try to shoot it down and prepare for it.”
He raised concerns about growing interest from Russia and China in the Arctic region, saying, “The US needs to lead in the Arctic because we know that if America doesn’t, other nations will fill the gap.”
Vance blasts Denmark for neglecting Greenland
Turning his attention to Denmark, Vance directly criticised the country for what he described as neglect over the past two decades. He said that Greenland had been “less important” to allies who had “not kept up as China and Russia have taken greater and greater interest.”
“We know that too often our allies in Europe have not kept pace. They haven’t kept pace with military spending,” he said.
“And Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations,” he added.
Vance claimed there had been “underinvestment in the infrastructure” of Greenland and criticised Denmark’s response to earlier warnings. “There was a lot of criticism from Denmark” for saying “the obvious, which is that Denmark has not done a good job at keeping Greenland safe,” he said.
Although he recognised Denmark’s contributions during the “war on terror”, he insisted the focus should now be on what lies ahead.
He added, “There is no amount of bullying, no amount of obfuscating, no amount of confusing the issue. Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have under invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change, and because it hasn’t changed, this is why President Trump’s policy in Greenland is what it is.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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