‘We don’t belong to anyone else’
Greenland’s new prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said on Sunday that the autonomous territory will decide its own future and will not become part of the United States. Nielsen responded to Donald Trump’s latest comments regarding the vast Arctic country.
In a Facebook post, Nielsen said, “President Trump says the United States ‘will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get Greenland. We don’t belong to anyone else. We decide our own future.”
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During an interview with NBC News on Saturday, Trump talked about Greenland and his commitment to annexing the region. He reiterated that a military option was not off the table.
“We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%,” Trump said, further adding that there’s a “good possibility that we could do it without military force” but that “I don’t take anything off the table”.
“We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100 percent”, Trump said on Sunday in an interview with NBC News.
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Rising tensions between US and Greenland
The tensions between the US and Greenland continue to rise, with Denmark recently criticising US Vice President JD Vance. On Saturday, Denmark said that it did not like the “tone” of Vance’s comments that Copenhagen had not done enough for Greenland.
“We are open to criticisms, but let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it’s being delivered,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in posts on social media.
“This is not how you speak to your close allies, and I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies,” he said.
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What did Vance say?
Vance made his comments during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, viewed by both Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation.
“Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a press conference.
“You have under-invested in the people of Greenland and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass,” he added.
Trump has often said that the US needs the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory for national and international security. Greenland is home to 57,000 people, most of them Inuits. It is believed to hold massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, although oil and uranium exploration is banned.
Denmark PM to visit Greenland
Amid rising tensions, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she will be visiting the island next week. A statement from Frederiksen’s office said that during her April 2 to 4 visit, she would greet the incoming government, with whom she promised to “pursue close and trustful cooperation”.
(With inputs from agencies)
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