Greenland Now: “Trump won’t rule out military force to acquire,” says the White House
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump won’t rule out the use of military force to acquire Greenland, the White House said on Wednesday, ramping up tension with fellow NATO member Denmark over a dispute that’s surged back into public view after the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last week, the media reported.
Trump is considering several ways of achieving his goal of acquiring Greenland, the Arctic island, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” Leavitt said.
“The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the US military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal.”
However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed the notion of military action in a briefing with lawmakers on Monday, instead signalling that an invasion was not imminent and that the goal was to buy the island from Denmark, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Rubio’s comments in the light of Leavitt’s statement, may further chill the US’ relations with Denmark and Greenland’s leaders, who have pushed back vehemently against Trump’s renewed demands to take control of the island.
Rubio’s comments in the light of Leavitt’s statement, may further chill relations the US’ relations Denmark and Greenland’s leaders, who have pushed back vehemently against Trump’s renewed demands to take control of the key strategic island.
Trump has mused about making Greenland part of the US since his first term (2016-20), but has ramped up the rhetoric after launching a military operation last week to oust Venezuela’s Maduro from power.
To resolve the issue, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said the governments of Denmark and Greenland requested a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, said in a Facebook post that the aim of the talks would be “to discuss the United States’ strong statements regarding Greenland.”
“When we want this, it is of course because we have the impression that part of this discussion is based on a misreading of what is what,” Lokke Rasmussen told reporters following a meeting at the parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee, according to local media.
“We believe it makes sense to try to arrange a meeting with our American counterparts to clear up some of the misunderstandings that may exist.”
Earlier on Tuesday, European leaders issued a joint statement, warning that Trump needs to respect the territorial integrity of Greenland and Denmark. They stressed that Greenland falls under NATO’s collective defence umbrella as part of the Kingdom of Denmark and that security in the Arctic must be achieved collectively with NATO allies.
The foreign ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden also issued a joint statement on Tuesday with a similar message to respect “the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and international law, including the inviolability of borders.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned on Monday that any US attack on Greenland would spell the end of the Nato alliance and “the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”
US officials have only continued to intensify their rhetoric over the issue. In an interview with CNN, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said that in a world “governed by strength,” the US has a right to take the territory.
“This is of course not something we can agree to,” Lokke Rasmussen said. “And it is also not something that Greenland has any ambitions of agreeing to, so that is obviously a red line.”
