(AFP) – Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede accused Washington on Monday of interfering in its political affairs by sending a US delegation to the Danish territory, which is coveted by President Donald Trump. Egede said US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz would visit Greenland this week along with Usha Vance, wife of US Vice President JD Vance. Usha Vance was to attend a dogsled race with her son. Greenlandic media reports said the delegation also included US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former mining executive. They showed images of two US Hercules planes on the tarmac at Nuuk airport over the weekend as part of an advance security team dispatched to the vast Arctic island.
Speaking to Greenlandic daily Sermitsiaq, Egede said the “only purpose of the visit was a demonstration of power, and the signal should not be misunderstood”. Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen also slammed the planned visit, telling broadcaster TV2 it showed “an appetite among Americans that is inappropriate”. Lokke noted that “there have just been elections in Greenland and there is no Greenlandic government”. Since returning to power in January, Trump has said he wants the United States to take over Greenland for what he says are national security purposes. He has refused to rule out the use of force to achieve that aim.
At a White House cabinet meeting Monday, Trump called the visit an act of “friendliness, not provocation”, insisting the delegation was invited. “I think Greenland’s going to be something that maybe is in our future. I think it’s important. It’s important from the standpoint of international security,” Trump added. Greenland, which is seeking to become fully independent from Copenhagen, and Denmark itself have both repeatedly rebuffed Trump, insisting that only Greenlanders can decide their future. Egede said Washington had previously been told there would be “no talks” on any subject until a new Greenlandic government was in place to conduct business. The general election on March 11 left him heading a caretaker government.
“It should be said clearly that our integrity and democracy must be respected without foreign interference,” Egede said in a post on Facebook. He added that the US delegation’s visit “cannot be seen as just a private visit”. “(Waltz) is Trump’s confidant and closest advisor, and his presence in Greenland alone will certainly make the Americans believe in Trump’s mission, and the pressure will increase after the visit,” Egede told Sermitsiaq. Ulrik Pram Gad of the Danish Institute for International Studies called the visit an “aggressive move” by Washington. “They haven’t been invited by Greenlanders. They haven’t been invited by the Danes. They just announced that they will go,” he told AFP.
Greenland’s political parties are currently in the process of negotiating a new coalition government following the election, which the centre-right Democrats won. “Normally, as a friend or ally, you would stay out of that,” Pram Gad said. Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of the Democrats party and the likely future prime minister, has previously criticised Trump’s Greenland ambitions as “inappropriate”. On Monday, Nielsen said that negotiations for a new coalition government following the election were continuing and that they would not let themselves “be pressured”.
Pram Gad said that with no officials to welcome the US delegation, “they will be pushing this point that ‘OK, nobody’s in control here, there’s a need for us to step in’,” he said. He said the choice to send Usha Vance was part of a “sham” charm offensive while the inclusion of Chris Wright “sends the signal that we’re after resources here”. European Union commission spokeswoman Anitta Hipper meanwhile said the bloc “will continue to uphold the principles of national sovereignty, (and) the territorial integrity of borders”.
Greenland holds massive untapped mineral and oil reserves, including rare earths crucial to the green transition. It is also strategically located in the Arctic between North America and Europe at a time of rising US, Chinese and Russian interest in the region as climate change opens up shipping routes previously covered by ice. According to opinion polls, most of the island’s 57,000 inhabitants support independence from Denmark but not annexation by Washington.
– Camille BAS-WOHLERT with Nioucha ZAKAVATI in Stockholm
© 2024 AFP
